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Title: The Age of Justinian and Theodora - A History of the Sixth Century A.D.
Author: Holmes, William Gordon
Language: English
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THEODORA ***
Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other
spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.
The Errata and Additional Corrections have been incorporated, apart from
those indicated by {} which could not be unambiguously identified.
Italics are represented thus _italic_, bold thus =bold= and
superscripts thus y^{en}.
THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN AND
THEODORA
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS
PORTUGAL ST. LINCOLN’S INN, W.C.
CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
BOMBAY: A. H. WHEELER & CO.
THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN
AND THEODORA
A HISTORY OF THE SIXTH CENTURY A.D.
BY
WILLIAM GORDON HOLMES
VOL. I
_SECOND EDITION_
LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
1912
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
PREFACE
Although the age of Justinian is the most interesting and important in
the whole series of the Byzantine annals, no comprehensive work has
hitherto been devoted to the subject. The valuable and erudite “Vita
Justiniani” of Ludewig is more of a law book than of a biography, and
less of a circumstantial history than of either. The somewhat strange
medley published by Isambert under the title “Vie de Justinien” is
scarcely a complete chronology of the events, and might be called a
manual of the sources rather than a history of the times.[1] Excellent
accounts, however, of Justinian are to be found in some general
histories of the Byzantine Empire as well as in several biographical
dictionaries, whilst monographs of greater or lesser extent exist
under the names of Perrinus, Invernizi, and Padovani, etc., but any
student of the period would decide that it deserves to be treated at
much greater length than has been devoted to it in any of these books.
In the present work the design has been to place before the reader
not only a record of events, but a presentment of the people amongst
whom, and of the stage upon which those events occurred. I have also
attempted to correlate the aspects of the ancient and the modern world
in relation to science and progress.
W. G. H.
LONDON,
_February, 1905_.
PREFATORY NOTE TO SECOND EDITION
This work has now been carefully revised and slightly enlarged. I am
indebted to suggestions from various reviewers of the first edition for
several of the improvements introduced. Occasionally, however, they are
in error and at variance among themselves on some of the points noted.
A few of my critics have accused me of being too discursive, especially
in my notes, an impression which is the natural result of my not having
expressed it definitely anywhere that my object was to present not
merely the sociology and events of a particular period, but also to
illustrate, in an abridged sense, the history of all time.
W. G. H.
LONDON,
_August, 1912_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PROEM ix
CHAP. I. CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 1
I. History 2
II. Topography 23
III. Sociology 83
II. THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER ANASTASIUS:
THE INHERITANCE OF JUSTINIAN 127
I. Political 134
II. Educational 204
III. Religious 233
III. BIRTH AND FORTUNES OF THE ELDER
JUSTIN: THE ORIGINS OF JUSTINIAN 295
IV. PRE-IMPERIAL CAREER OF THEODORA:
THE CONSORT OF JUSTINIAN 321
INDEX 351
CORRECTIONS 360
ADDITIONS 361
MAPS
DIAGRAM OF CONSTANTINOPLE IN SIXTH CENTURY 80
ROMAN EMPIRE AND VICINITY, _c._ 500 A.D. 144
PROEM
The birth and death of worlds are ephemeral events in a cycle of
astronomical time. In the life history of a stellar system, of a
planet, of an animal, parallel periods of origin, exuberance, and of
extinction are exhibited to our experience, or to our understanding.
Man, in his material existence confined to a point, by continuity of
effort and perpetuity of thought, becomes coequal and coextensive
with the infinities of time and space. The intellectual store of ages
has evolved the supremacy of the human race, but the zenith of its
ascendancy may still be far off, and the aspiration after progress
has been entailed on the heirs of all preceding generations. The
advancement of humanity is the sum of the progress of its component
members, and the individual who raises his own life to the highest
attainable eminence becomes a factor in the elevation of the whole
race. Familiarity with history dispels the darkness of the past,
which is so prolific in the myths that feed credulity and foster
superstition, the frequent parents of the most stubborn obstacles which
have lain in the path of progress. The history of the past comprises
the lessons of the future; and the successes and failures of former
times are a pre-vision of the struggles to come and the errors to be
avoided. The stream of human life having once issued from its sources,
may be equal in endurance to a planet, to a stellar system, or even to
the universe itself. The mind of the universe may be man, who may be
the confluence of universal intelligence. The eternity of the past, the
infinity of the present, may be peopled with races like our own, but
whether they die out with the worlds they occupy, or enjoy a perpetual
existence, transcends the present limits of our knowledge. From century
to century the solid ground of science gains on the illimitable ocean
of the unknown, but we are ignorant as to whether we exist in the dawn
or in the noonday of enlightenment. The conceptions of one age become
the achievements of the next; and the philosopher may question whether
this world be not some remote, unaffiliated tract, which remains to be
annexed to the empire of universal civilization. The discoveries of the
future may be as undreamt of as those of the past,[2] and the ultimate
destiny of our race is hidden from existing generations.
In the period I have chosen to bring before the reader, civilization
was on the decline, and progress imperceptible, but the germs of a
riper growth were still existent, concealed within the spreading
darkness of mediaevalism. When Grecian science and philosophy seemed to
stand on the threshold of modern enlightenment the pall of despotism
and superstition descended on the earth and stifled every impulse of
progress for more than fifteen centuries. The Yggdrasil of Christian
superstition spread its roots throughout the Roman Empire, strangling
alike the nascent ethics of Christendom, and the germinating science
of the ancient world. Had the leading minds of that epoch, instead
of expending their zeal and acumen on theological inanities, applied
themselves to the study of nature, they might have forestalled the
march of the centuries, and advanced us a thousand years beyond the
present time. But the atmosphere of the period was charged with a
metaphysical mysticism whereby all philosophic thought and material
research were arrested. The records of a millennium comprise little
more than the rise, the progress, and the triumph of superstition
and barbarism. The degenerate Greeks became the serfs and slaves
of the land in which they were formerly the masters, and retreated
gradually to a vanishing point in the vast district from the Adriatic
to the Indus, over which the eagle-wing of Alexander had swept in
uninterrupted conquest. Unable to oppose their political solidarity
and martial science to the fanaticism of the half-armed Saracens,
they yielded up to them insensibly their faith and their empire, and
their place was filled by a host of unprogressive Mohammedans, who
brought with them a newer religion more sensuous in its conceptions,
but less gross in its practice, than the Christianity of that day.
But the hardy barbarians of the North, drinking at the fountain of
knowledge, had achieved some political organization, and became the
natural and irresistible barriers against which the waves of Moslem
enthusiasm dashed themselves in vain. The term of Asiatic encroachment
was fixed at the Pyrenees in the west, and at the Danube in the
east by the valorous Franks and Hungarians; and on the brink of the
turning tide stand the heroic figures of Charles Martel and Matthias
Corvinus. Civilization has now included almost the whole globe in
its comprehensive embrace; both the old world and the new have been
overrun by the intellectual heirs of the Greeks; in every land the
extinction of retrograde races proceeds with measured certainty, and we
appear to be safer from a returning flood of barbarism than from some
astronomical catastrophe. The mediaeval order of things is reversed,
the ravages of Attila reappear under a new aspect, and the descendants
of the Han and the Hun alike are raised by the hand, or crushed under
the foot of aggressive civilization.
In the infancy of human reason intelligence outstrips knowledge,
and the mature, but vacant, mind soon loses itself in the dark and
trackless wilderness of natural phenomena. An imaginative system of
cosmogony, baseless as the fabric of a dream, is the creation of a
moment; to dissipate it the work of ages in study and investigation.
Less than a century ago philosophic scepticism could only vent itself
in a sneer at the credibility of a tradition, or the fidelity of a
manuscript; and the folklore of peasants, encrusted with the hoar
of antiquity, was accepted by erudite mystics as the solution of
cosmogony and the proof of our communion with the supernatural. An
illegible line, a misinterpreted phrase, a suspected interpolation, in
some decaying document, the proof or the refutation, was often hailed
triumphantly by ardent disputants as announcing the establishment
or the overthrow of revelation. But the most signal achievements
of historic research or criticism were powerless to elucidate
the mysteries of the universe; and the inquirer had to fall back
perpetually on the current mythology for the interpretation of his
objective environment. In the hands of science alone were the keys
which could unlock the book of nature, and open the gates of knowledge
as to the enigmas of visible life. A flood of light has been thrown
on the order of natural phenomena, our vision has been prolonged from
the dawn of history to the dawn of terrestrial life, an intelligible
hypothesis of existence has been deduced from observation and
experiment, idealism and dogma have been recognized as the offspring
of phantasy and fallacy, and the mystical elements of Christianity
have been dismissed by philosophy to that limbo of folly which long
ago engulfed the theogonies of Greece and Rome. The sapless trunk of
revelation lies rotting on the ground, but the undiscerning masses, too
credulous to inquire, too careless to think, have allowed it to become
invested with the weeds of superstition and ignorance; and the progeny
of hierophants, who once sheltered beneath the green and flourishing
tree, still find a cover in the rank growth. In the turn of the ages
we are confronted by new Pagans who adhere to an obsolete religion;
and the philosopher can only hope for an era when every one will have
sufficient sense and science to think according to the laws of nature
and civilization.
The history of the disintegrating and moribund Byzantine Empire has
been explored by modern scholars with untiring assiduity; and the
exposition of that debased political system will always reflect more
credit on their brilliant researches than on the chequered annals of
mankind.
ADDITIONAL CORRECTIONS
P. 127, n. 1, legends and hearsay; p. 133, n. 3, καρξιμάδες; p. 141,
n. 2, i; p. 165, regions,^1 own,^2 other^3 (to n. 1 next page); p.
166, soldiers, arms,^2 etc.; p. 169, n. 6, Marcellinus; p. 188, herd;
{_ib._, n. 1, _c._ 530}; p. 191, n. 1, XII, not xii; p. 220, judgment;
p. 225, n. 1, cadavérique; p. 232, n. 1, add, on its way to resolution
into the formless protyle or ether; p. 283, the outposts; p. 300, n.
6, add, cf. Jn. Malala, xviii, p. 490; p. 309, n. 2, add, cf. Chron.
Paschal., an. 605; {p. 316, mood}; p. 330, n. 2, Strabo, VIII, vi,
20; p. 344, near the district of Hormisdas, not Palace; _ib._, n. 2,
read, which stood on the Propontis to the east of the Theodosian Port;
see Notitia, reg. ix and Ducange _sb. Homonoea_. The suburban St. P.
is said to be indicated by ruins still existing at the foot of the
“Giant’s Grave,” on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus; see Gyllius, De
Bosp., iii, 6; Procop., etc., p. 346, n. 1, insert, Jn. Malala, xviii,
p. 430; _ib._, an. 6020; {p. 362, read, This question and the _Yeri_,
etc.}
THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN AND THEODORA
CHAPTER I
CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY[3]
The Byzantine peninsula has been regarded from a very early date as an
ideal situation for a capital city. Placed at the junction of two great
seas which wash the shores of three continents, and possessed of a safe
and extensive anchorage for shipping, it might become the centre of
empire and commerce for the whole Eastern hemisphere. Yet, owing to an
adverse fate, the full realization of this splendid conception remains
a problem of the future. Byzantium as an independent city was little
more than an outpost of civilization; as a provincial town of the Roman
Empire its political position allowed it no scope for development; as
the metropolis of the same Empire in its age of decadence its fitful
splendour is an unsubstantial pageant without moral or political
stability. Lastly, in the hands of the Turk its growth has been
fettered by the prejudices of a nation unable to free itself from the
bondage of an effete civilization.
I. HISTORY
The first peopling of the site of Constantinople is a question in
prehistoric research, which has not yet been elucidated by the
palaeontologist. Unlike the Roman area, no relics of an age of stone
or bronze have been discovered here;[4] do not, perhaps, exist, but
doubtless the opportunities, if not the men, have been wanting for
such investigations.[5] That the region seemed to the primitive
Greeks to be a wild and desolate one, we learn from the tradition
of the Argonautic expedition;[6] and the epithet of “Axine,”[7] or
inhospitable, applied in the earliest times to the Euxine or Black
Sea. By the beginning, however, of the seventh century before the
Christian era these seas and maritime channels had been explored, and
several colonies[8] had been planted by the adventurous Greeks who
issued from the Ionian seaport of Miletus. Later than the Milesians,
a band of Dorians from Megara penetrated into these parts and, by a
strange choice, as it was afterwards considered, selected a point at
the mouth of the Bosphorus on the Asiatic shore for a settlement, which
they called Chalcedon.[9] Seventeen years later[10] a second party
from Megara fixed themselves on the European headland, previously
known as Lygos,[11] nearly opposite their first colony. The leader
of this expedition was Byzas,[12] and from him the town they built
was named Byzantium.[13] The actual limits of the original city are
now quite unknown, but doubtless they were small at first and were
gradually extended according as the community increased in wealth and
prosperity.[14] During the classic period of Greek history the town
rose to considerable importance, as its commanding position enabled
it to impose a toll on ships sailing to and from the Euxine sea; a
power of which, however, it made a very sparing use.[15] It was also
enriched by the countless shoals of fish[16] which, when the north
winds blew, descended from the Euxine and thronged the narrow but
elongated gulf called, most probably for that reason, _Chrysoceras_
or Golden Horn.[17] Ultimately Byzantium became the largest city in
Thrace, having expanded itself over an area which measured four and a
half miles in circumference, including, probably, the suburbs.[18] It
exercised a suzerainty over Chalcedon and Perinthus,[19] and reduced
the aboriginal Bithynians to a state of servitude comparable to that
of the Spartan Helots.[20] Notwithstanding its natural advantages,
the town never won any pre-eminence among the Hellenic communities,
and nothing more unstable than its political position is presented to
us in the restless concourse of Grecian nationalities. In the wars of
Persians with Greeks, and of Greeks with Greeks, it always became the
sport of the contending parties; and during a century and a half (about
506 B.C. to 350 B.C.) it was taken and re-taken at least six times
by Medes, Spartans, Athenians, and Thebans, a change of constitution
following, of course, each change of political connection.[21] In 340
B.C., however, the Byzantines, with the aid of the Athenians, withstood
a siege successfully, an occurrence the more remarkable as they were
attacked by the greatest general of the age, Philip of Macedon. In
the course of this beleaguerment, it is related, on a certain wet and
moonless night the enemy attempted a surprise, but were foiled by
reason of a bright light which, appearing suddenly in the heavens,
startled all the dogs in the town and thus roused the garrison to a
sense of their danger.[22] To commemorate this timely phenomenon, which
was attributed to Hecate, they erected a public statue to that goddess
and, as it is supposed, assumed the crescent for their chief national
device. For several centuries after this event the city enjoyed a
nominal autonomy, but it appears to have been in perpetual conflict
with its civilized or barbarous neighbours; and in 279 B.C. it was even
laid under tribute[23] by the horde of Gauls who penetrated into Asia
and established themselves permanently in Galatia. After the appearance
of the Roman legionaries in the East the Byzantines were always the
faithful friends of the Republic, while it was engaged in suppressing
the independent potentates of Macedonia and Asia Minor. For its
services Byzantium was permitted to retain the rank of a free city,[24]
and its claim to indulgence was allowed by more than one of the Roman
emperors,[25] even after A.D. 70, when Vespasian limited its rights to
those of a provincial town.[26]
Of all the ancient historians one only has left us a description
capable of giving some visual impression as to the appearance of old
Byzantium. “This city,” says Dion Cassius,[27] “is most favourably
situated, being built upon an eminence, which juts out into the sea.
The waters, like a torrent, rushing downwards from the Pontus impinge
against the promontory and flow partly to the right, so as to form the
bay and harbours, but the main stream runs swiftly alongside the city
into the Propontis. The town is also extremely well fortified, for
the wall is faced with great square stones joined together by brazen
clamps, and it is further strengthened on the inside through mounds
and houses being built up against it. This wall seems to consist of
a solid mass of stone,[28] and it has a covered gallery above, which
is very easily defended. On the outside there are many large towers,
perforated with frequent loopholes and ranged in an irregular line, so
that an attacking party is surrounded by them and exposed on all sides
at once. Toward the land the fortifications are very lofty, but less so
on the side of the water, as the rocks on which they are founded and
the dangers of the Bosphorus render them almost unassailable. There are
two harbours within the walls,[29] guarded by chains, and at the ends
of the moles inclosing them towers facing each other make the passage
impracticable to an enemy. I have seen the walls standing and have
also heard them speaking; for there are seven vocal towers stretching
from the Thracian gates to the sea. If one shouts or drops a pebble in
the first it not only resounds itself or repeats the syllables, but
it transmits the power for the next in order to do the same; and thus
the voice or echo is carried in regular succession through the whole
series.”[30]
At the end of the second century the Byzantines were afflicted by the
severest trial which had ever come within their experience. In the
tripartite struggle between the Emperor Severus and his competitors
of Gaul and Asia, the city unfortunately threw in its lot with Niger,
the Proconsul of Syria. Niger soon fell, but Byzantium held out with
inflexible obstinacy for three years and, through the ingenuity of an
engineer named Priscus, defied all the efforts of the victor. During
this time the inhabitants suffered progressively every kind of hardship
and horror which has been put on record in connection with sieges of
the most desperate character. Stones torn from the public buildings
were used as projectiles, statues of men and horses, in brass and
marble, were hurled on the heads of the besiegers, women gave their
hair to be twisted into cords and ropes, leather soaked in water was
eaten, and finally they fell on one another and fed on human flesh. At
last the city yielded, but Severus was exasperated, and his impulse of
hostility only ceased with the destruction of the prize he had won at
such a cost in blood and treasure. The garrison and all who had borne
any public office, with the exception of Priscus, were put to death,
the chief buildings were razed,[31] the municipality was abolished,
property was confiscated, and the town was given over to the previously
subject Perinthians, to be treated as a dependent village. With immense
labour the impregnable fortifications were levelled with the ground,
and the ruins of the first bulwark of the Empire against the barbarians
of Scythia attested the wisdom and temperance of the master of the East
and West.[32]
But the memory of Byzantium dwelt in the mind of Severus and he was
attracted to revisit the spot. In cooler moments he surveyed the
wreck; the citizens, bearing olive branches in their hands, approached
him in a solemn and suppliant procession; he determined to rebuild,
and at his mandate new edifices were reared to supply the place of
those which had been ruined. He even purchased ground, which had
been previously occupied by private gardens, for the laying out of a
hippodrome,[33] a public luxury with which the town had never before
been adorned. But the hateful name of Byzantium was abolished and the
new city was called Antonina[34] by Severus, in honour of his eldest
son; a change, however, which scarcely survived the life of its author.
Through Caracalla,[35] or some rational statesman acting in the name
of that reprobate, the city regained its political privileges, but the
fortifications were not restored, and for more than half a century
it remained defenceless against the barbarians, and even against
the turbulent soldiery of the Empire. Beginning from about 250 the
Goths ravaged the vicinity of the Bosphorus and plundered most of the
towns, holding their own against Decius and several other short-lived
emperors. Under Gallienus a mutinous legion is said to have massacred
most of the inhabitants, but shortly afterwards the same emperor gave
a commission to two Byzantine engineers to fortify the district, and
henceforward Byzantium again appears as a stronghold, which was made
a centre of operations against the Goths, in the repulse of whom the
natives and their generals even played an important part.[36] In 323
Licinius, the sole remaining rival of Constantine, after his defeat in
a great battle near Adrianople, took refuge in Byzantium, and the town
again became the scene of a contest memorable in history, not for the
magnitude of the siege, but for the importance of the events which it
inaugurated. Licinius soon yielded, and a new era dawned for Byzantium,
which in a few years became lastingly known to the nations as the City
of Constantine.
The tongue of land on which Constantinople is built is essentially
a low mountainous ridge, rising on three sides by irregular slopes
from the sea. Trending almost directly eastward from the continent
of Europe, it terminates abruptly in a rounded headland opposite the
Asiatic shore, from which it is separated by the entrance of the
Bosphorus, at this point a little more than a mile in width. This
diminutive peninsula, which is bounded on the north by the inland
extension of the Bosphorus, called the Golden Horn, and on the south
by the Propontis or Sea of Marmora, has a length of between three and
four miles. At its eastern extremity it is about a mile broad and it
gradually expands until, in the region where it may be said to join
the mainland, its measurement has increased to more than four times
that distance. The unlevel nature of the ground and reminiscences of
the seven hills of classical Rome have always caused a parallel to be
drawn between the sites of the two capitals of the Empire, but the
resemblance is remote and the historic import of the Roman hills is
totally wanting in the case of those of Constantinople. The hills of
the elder city were mostly distinct mounts, which had borne suggestive
names in the earliest annals of the district. Every citizen had learned
to associate the Palatine with the Roma Quadrata of Romulus, the
Aventine with the ill-omened auspices of Remus, the Quirinal with
the rape of the Sabine women, the Esquiline with the murder of King
Servius, the Capitol with the repulse of the Gauls by Manlius; and knew
that when the standard was raised on the Janiculum the comitia were
assembled to transact the business of the Republic. But the Byzantine
hills are little more than variations in the face of the slope as
it declines on each side from the central dorsum to the water, and
have always been nameless unless in the numerical descriptions of the
topographer. On the north five depressions constitute as many valleys
and give rise to six hills, which are numbered in succession from the
narrow end of the promontory to the west. Thus the first hill is that
on which stood the acropolis of Byzantium. Two of the valleys, the
third and fifth, can be traced across the dorsum of the peninsular from
sea to sea. A rivulet, called the Lycus, running from the mainland,
joins the peninsula near its centre and then turns in a south-easterly
direction so as to fall into the Propontis. The valley through which
this stream passes, the sixth, bounds the seventh hill, an elevation
known as the Xerolophos or Dry-mount, which, lying in the south-west,
occupies more than a third of the whole area comprised within the
city walls.[37] From every high point of the promontory the eye may
range over seas and mountains often celebrated in classic story—the
Trojan Ida and Olympus, the Hellespont, Athos and Olympus of Zeus,
and the Thracian Bosphorus embraced by wooded hills up to the “blue
Symplegades” and the Euxine, so suggestive of heroic tradition to the
Greek mind. The Golden Horn itself describes a curve to the north-west
of more than six miles in length, and at its extremity, where it turns
upon itself, becomes fused with the estuary of two small rivers named
Cydarus and Barbyses.[38] Throughout the greater part of its course
it is about a quarter of a mile in width, but at one point below its
centre, it is dilated into a bay of nearly double that capacity. This
inlet was not formerly, in the same sense as it is now, the port of
Constantinople; to the ancients it was still the sea, a moat on a
large scale, which added the safety of water to the mural defences of
the city; and the small shipping of the period was accommodated in
artificial harbours formed by excavations within the walls or by moles
thrown out from the shore.[39] The climate of this locality is very
changeable, exposed as it is to north winds chilled by transit over the
Russian steppes, and to warm breezes which originate in the tropical
expanses of Africa and Arabia. The temperature may range through twenty
degrees in a single day, and winters of such arctic severity that
the Golden Horn and even the Bosphorus are seen covered with ice are
not unknown to the inhabitants.[40] Variations of landscape due to
vegetation are found chiefly in the abundance of plane, pine, chestnut,
and other trees, but more especially of the cypress. Earthquakes
are a permanent source of annoyance, and have sometimes been very
destructive. Such in brief are the geographical features of this
region, which the caprice of a prince, in a higher degree, perhaps,
than its natural endowments, appointed to contain the metropolis of the
East.
When Constantine determined to supplant the ancient capital on the
Tiber by building a new city in a place of his own choice,[41] he
does not appear to have been more acute in discerning the advantages
of Byzantium than were the first colonists from Megara. It is said
that Thessalonica first fixed his attention; it is certain that he
began to build in the Troad, near the site of Homeric Ilios; and it is
even suggested that when he shifted his ground from thence he next
commenced operations at Chalcedon.[42] By 328,[43] however, he had
come to a final decision, and Byzantium was exalted to be the actual
rival of Rome. This event, occurring at so advanced a date and under
the eye of civilization, yet became a source of legend, so as to excel
even in that respect the original foundation by Byzas. The oracles had
long been lapsing into silence,[44] but their place had been gradually
usurped by Christian visions, and every zealot who thought upon the
subject conceived of Constantine as acting under a special inspiration
from the Deity. More than a score of writers in verse and prose
have described the circumstances under which he received the divine
injunctions, and some have presented to us in detail the person and
words of the beatific visitant.[45] On the faith of an ecclesiastical
historian[46] we are asked to believe that an angelic guide even
directed the Emperor as he marked out the boundaries of his future
capital. When Constantine, on foot with a spear in his hand, seemed to
his ministers to move onwards for an inordinate distance, one of them
exclaimed: “How far, O Master?” “Until he who precedes me stands,” was
the reply by which the inspired surveyor indicated that he followed an
unseen conductor. Whether Constantine was a superstitious man is an
indeterminate question, but that he was a shrewd and politic one is
self-evident from his career, and, if we believe that he gave currency
to this and similar marvellous tales, we can perceive that he could not
have acted more judiciously with the view of gaining adherents during
the flush of early Christian enthusiasm.[47]
The area of the city was more than quadrupled by the wall of
Constantine, which extended right across the peninsula in the form of
a bow, distant at the widest part about a mile and three-quarters from
the old fortifications.[48] This space, by comparison enormous, and
which yet included only four of the hills with part of the Xerolophos,
was hastily filled by the Emperor with buildings and adornments of
every description. Many cities of the Empire, notably Rome, Athens,
Ephesus, and Antioch, were stripped of some of their most precious
objects of art for the embellishment of the new capital.[49] Wherever
statues, sculptured columns, or metal castings were to be found, there
the agents of Constantine were busily engaged in arranging for their
transfer to the Bosphorus. Resolved that no fanatic spirit should mar
the cosmopolitan expectation of his capital the princely architect
subdued his Christian zeal, and three temples[50] to mythological
divinities arose in regular conformity with pagan custom. Thus the
“Fortune of the City” took her place as the goddess Anthusa[51] in a
handsome fane, and adherents of the old religion could not declare that
the ambitious foundation was begun under unfavourable auspices. In
another temple a statue of Rhea, or Cybele, was erected in an abnormal
posture, deprived of her lions and with her hands raised as if in the
act of praying over the city. On this travesty of the mother of the
Olympians, we may conjecture, was founded the belief which prevailed
in a later age that the capital at its birth had been dedicated to
the Virgin.[52] That a city permanently distinguished by the presence
of an Imperial court should remain deficient in population is opposed
to common experience of the laws which govern the evolution of a
metropolis. But Constantine could not wait, and various artificial
methods were adopted in order to provide inhabitants for the vacant
inclosure. Patricians were induced to abandon Rome by grants of lands
and houses, and it is even said that several were persuaded to settle
at Constantinople by means of an ingenious deception. Commanding the
attendance in the East of a number of senators during the Persian war,
the Emperor privately commissioned architects to build counterparts of
their Roman dwellings on the Golden Horn. To these were transferred
the families and households of the absent ministers, who were then
invited by Constantine to meet him in his new capital. There they
were conducted to homes in which to their astonishment they seemed to
revisit Rome in a dream, and henceforth they became permanent residents
in obedience to a prince who urged his wishes with such unanswerable
arguments.[53] As to the common herd we have no precise information,
but it is asserted by credible authority that they were raked together
from diverse parts, the rabble of the Empire who derived their
maintenance from the founder and repaid him with servile adulation in
the streets and in the theatre.[54]
By the spring of 330[55] the works were sufficiently advanced for the
new capital to begin its political existence, and Constantine decreed
that a grand inaugural festival should take place on the 11th of
May. The “Fortune of the City” was consecrated by a pagan ceremony
in which Praetextatus, a priest, and Sopater, a philosopher, played
the principal parts;[56] largess was distributed to the populace, and
magnificent games were exhibited in the Hippodrome, where the Emperor
presided, conspicuous with a costly diadem decked with pearls and
precious stones, which he wore for the first time.[57] On this occasion
the celebration is said to have lasted forty days,[58] and at the
same time Constantine instituted the permanent “Encaenia,” an annual
commemoration, which he enjoined on succeeding emperors for the same
date. A gilded statue of himself, bearing a figure of Anthusa in one
hand, was to be conducted round the city in a chariot, escorted by a
military guard, dressed in a definite attire,[59] and carrying wax
tapers in their hands. Finally, the procession was to make the circuit
of the Hippodrome and, when it paused before the cathisma, the emperor
was to descend from his throne and adore the effigy.[60] We are further
told that an astrologer named Valens was employed to draw the horoscope
of the city, with the result that he predicted for it an existence of
696 years.[61]
After the fall of Licinius it appears most probable that Constantine,
as a memorial of his accession to undivided power, gave Byzantium the
name of Constantinople.[62] When, however, he transformed that town
into a metropolis, in order to express clearly the magnitude of his
views as to the future, he renamed it Second, or New Rome. At the
same time he endowed it with special privileges, known in the legal
phraseology of the period as the “right of Italy and prerogative of
Rome”;[63] and to keep these facts in the public eye he had them
inscribed on a stone pillar, which he set up in a forum, or square,
called the Strategium, adjacent to an equestrian statue of himself.[64]
To render it in all respects the image of Rome, Constantinople was
provided with a Senate,[65] a national council known only at that date
in the artificial form which owes its existence to despots. After his
choice of Byzantium for the eastern capital Constantine never dwelt
at Rome, and in all his acts seems to have aimed at extinguishing the
prestige of the old city by the grandeur of the new one, a policy which
he initiated so effectively that in the century after his death the
Roman Empire ceased to be Roman.[66]
Constantine is credited with the erection of many churches[67] in and
around Constantinople, but, with the exception of St. Irene,[68] the
Holy Cross,[69] and the Twelve Apostles,[70] their identification
rests with late and untrustworthy writers. One, St. Mocius,[71] is
said to have been built with the materials of a temple of Zeus, which
previously stood in the same place, the summit of the Xerolophos,
outside the walls. Another, St. Mena, occupied the site of the temple
of Poseidon founded by Byzas.[72] Paganism was tolerated as a religion
of the Empire until the last decade of the fourth century, when it was
finally overthrown by the preponderance of Christianity. Laws for its
total suppression were enacted by Theodosius I, destruction of temples
was legalized, and at the beginning of the fifth century it is probable
that few traces remained of the sacred edifices which had adorned old
Byzantium.[73]
After the age of Constantine the progress of New Rome as metropolis
of the east was extremely rapid,[74] the suburbs became densely
populous, and in 413 Theodosius II gave a commission to Anthemius,[75]
the Praetorian Prefect, to build a new wall in advance of the old
one nearly a mile further down the peninsula. The intramural space
was thus increased by an area more than equal to half its former
dimensions; and, with the exception of some small additions on the
Propontis and the Golden Horn, this wall marked the utmost limit
of Constantinople in ancient or modern times. In 447 a series of
earthquakes, which lasted for three months, laid the greater part of
the new wall in ruins, fifty-seven of the towers, according to one
account,[76] having collapsed during the period of commotion. This
was the age of Attila and the Huns, to whom Theodosius, sooner than
offer a military resistance, had already agreed to pay an annual
tribute of seven hundred pounds of gold.[77] With the rumour that
the barbarians were approaching the undefended capital the public
alarm rose to fever-heat, and the Praetorian Prefect of the time,
Cyrus Constantine, by an extraordinary effort, not only restored the
fortifications of Anthemius, but added externally a second wall on a
smaller scale, together with a wide and deep fosse,[78] in the short
space of sixty days. To the modern observer it might appear incredible
that such a prodigious mass of masonry, extending over a distance of
four miles, could be reared within two months, but the fact is attested
by two inscriptions still existing on the gates,[79] by the Byzantine
historians,[80] and by the practice of antiquity in times of impending
hostility.[81]
II. TOPOGRAPHY
Having now traced the growth of the city on the Golden Horn from
its origin in the dawn of Grecian history until its expansion into
the capital of the greatest empire of the past, I have reached the
threshold of my actual task—to place before the reader a picture
of Constantinople at the beginning of the sixth century in its
topographical and sociological aspects. The literary materials,
though abundant, are in great part unreliable and are often devoid of
information which would be found in the most unpretentious guide-book
of modern times.[82] On the other hand the monumental remains are
unusually scanty, insignificant indeed compared with those of Rome, and
few cities, which have been continuously occupied, have suffered so
much during the lapse of a few centuries as Constantinople. Political
revolution has been less destructive than that of religion, and
Moslem fanaticism, much more than time or war, has achieved the ruin
of the Christian capital. On this ground, the same calamities which
Christianity inflicted on paganism in the fourth century, she suffered
herself at the hands of Islam in the fifteenth.
The modern visitor, who approaches Constantinople, is at once
impressed by the imposing vista of gilded domes and minarets, which
are the chief objective feature of the Ottoman capital. It is scarcely
necessary to say that in the sixth century the minaret, uniquely
characteristic as it is of a Mohammedan city, would be absent, but
the statement must also be extended to the dome, the most distinctive
element in Byzantine architecture, which at the date of my description
scarcely yet existed even in the conception of the builder.[83] If
we draw near from the Sea of Marmora (the Propontis) at the time
of this history, we shall observe, extending by land and sea from
the southernmost point, the same ranges of lofty walls and towers,
now falling into universal ruin, but then in a state of perfect
repair. Within appear numerous great houses and several tall columns
interspersed among a myriad of small red-roofed dwellings, densely
packed; and here and there the eye is caught by a gleam of gilded tiles
from the roof of a church or a palace. In order to inspect the defences
on the land side, the aspect of the city most strongly fortified,
we must disembark near the south-west corner of the Xerolophos, the
locality now known as the Seven Towers. Without the city, towards
the west, the ground consists of flowery meadows diversified by
fruit-gardens and by groves of cypress and plane trees.[84] Almost
at the water’s edge is an imposing bastion, which from its circular
form is called the Cyclobion.[85] Proceeding inland we shall not at
this date find a road winding over hill and dale from sea to sea as
at the present day.[86] Most of the country is occupied by walled
_philopatia_ or pleasaunces in which landscape gardening has been
developed with considerable art, suburban residences of the Byzantine
aristocracy.[87] In a grove about a mile from the shore we come upon a
certain well, which is regarded as sacred and frequented by sufferers
from various diseases on account of the healing virtue attributed to
its waters.[88] Northwards the extramural district abutting on the
Golden Horn is called Blachernae from the chief of a Thracian tribe,
which formerly occupied this quarter.[89] Here, contiguous to the wall,
we may notice a small summer palace on two floors, built of brick with
rows of stone-framed, arched windows, now undergoing restoration and
extension by the Emperor Anastasius.[90] A few paces further on is a
Christian chapel dedicated to the Theotokos or Mother of God, founded
by Pulcheria,[91] the pious but imperious sister of Theodosius II, and
finally the maiden wife of the Emperor Marcian. Hard by is a natural
well,[92] which from its interesting associations is now beginning to
ripen into sanctity.
The scheme of fortification consists of three main defences: (1) a
foss, (2) an outer wall with frequent towers, and (3) an inner wall,
similar, but of much greater proportions.
(1) Since the moat necessarily follows the trend of the ground as it
rises on either side from the beach to the dorsum of the peninsula,
this canal, instead of maintaining a uniform level, consists of a
number of sections divided by cross-walls, the distances between which
are determined by the exigences of ascent or descent. In its course
it outlines the contour of the walls, which advance on the peninsula
from each end in the form of a bow. The average width of this foss is
about sixty, and its depth about thirty feet. It is lined on both sides
from the bottom with substantial stone walls, but, whilst that on the
outside only reaches the level of the ground, the wall next the city,
with a crenellated top, rises for several feet,[93] so as to convey
the impression of a triple wall of defence. In peace time the water is
allowed to run low, but if an assault is apprehended the trench can be
quickly flooded by means of earthenware pipes concealed within the
partition walls. From these conduits the city also derives a secret
supply of water not likely to be tampered with by a besieging army.[94]
(2) At a distance of about twenty yards from the inner edge of the
moat, rising to a height of nearly thirty feet, with dentated parapets,
stands the lesser wall. Towers of various shapes, square, round, and
octagonal, project from its external face at intervals of about fifty
yards. Each tower overtops the wall and possesses small front and
lateral windows, which overlook the level tract[95] stretching from
the foss. High up in each tower is a floorway having an exit on the
intramural space behind, and they have also steps outside which lead
to the roof. The vacant interval between the walls is about fifty feet
wide, usually called the _peribolos_.[96] It has been artificially
raised to within a few feet of the top of the wall by pouring into it
the earth recovered in excavating the moat.[97] This is the special
vantage-ground of the defenders of the city during a siege: from hence
mainly they launch their missiles against the enemy or engage them
in a hand-to-hand fight should they succeed in crossing the moat and
planting their scaling-ladders against the wall.[98]
(3) Bounding the _peribolos_ posteriorly lies the main land-wall of
Constantinople, the great and indisputable work of Theodosius II. In
architectural configuration it is almost similar to the outer wall, but
its height is much greater, and its towers, placed so as to alternate
with the smaller ones in front, occupy more than four times as much
ground. Built as separate structures, but adherent to the wall behind,
they rise above it and project forwards into the interspace for more
than half its breadth. Most of the towers are square, but those of
circular or octagonal shape are not infrequent. In level places
offering facilities for attack the wall has a general height of seventy
feet, but in less accessible situations, on rising or rugged ground, it
attains to little more than half that elevation.[99] As in the case of
the outer defences, the wall and towers are crested by an uninterrupted
series of crenellated battlements.
The towers are entered from the city at the back, and within each
one is a winding stone staircase leading to the top. Here, sheltered
by the parapet, there is room for sixty or seventy men to assail an
enemy with darts or engines of war. There is also a lower floor from
which a further body of soldiers can act on the offensive by means
of front and side windows or loopholes. At intervals certain of the
towers have an exit on the _peribolos_ for the use of those militants
who have their station on that rampart. In time of peace these towers
serve as guard-houses, and the sentries are enjoined to maintain their
vigilance by passing the word of each successive hour from post to post
during the night.[100] The usual thickness of this wall is about eight
feet, but no regular rampart has been prepared along the summit, the
defensive value of such an area being superseded by the _peribolos_.
Hence the top, the width of which is limited to less than five feet
by the encroachment of the parapet, has no systematic means of access
from the ground or from the towers. Hewn stone, worked in the vicinity,
has been used for the construction of these fortifications,[101]
and in some places close to the city the ground may be seen to have
been quarried into hills and hollows[102] for the supply of the
builders.[103]
At about every half mile of their length these walls are pierced
by main gateways for the passing to and fro of the inhabitants. In
these situations the inner wall is increased to more than treble
its ordinary thickness, and the passage is flanked by a pair of the
greater towers, which here approximate at much less than their usual
distance. The thoroughfare consists of a deep and lofty archway, which
on occasion can be closed by ponderous doors revolving on huge iron
hinges. Opposite each gate the moat is crossed by wooden drawbridges
easily removable in case of a siege. The most southerly entrance, being
opposite the holy well, is called the Gate of the Fountain; next comes
the Gate of Rhegium, then that of St. Romanus, fourthly the Charsios or
oblique Gate,[104] and lastly the Xylokerkos Gate—that of the wooden
circus. Between the third and fourth gates the moat is deficient
and the walls are tunnelled for the transit of the streamlet Lycus,
which, though almost dry in summer, swells to a considerable volume
in winter. The second and last portals bear metrical inscriptions,
differing verbally, but each declaring the fact that the Prefect, Cyrus
Constantine, built the wall in two months.[105] On the second gate,
that of Rhegium, the circumstance is recorded in a Latin tristich as
well as in a Greek distich.[106]
Besides these popular approaches there is another series of five gates,
architecturally similar, but designed only for military or strategic
purposes. About intermediate in position and in line with neither
roads nor bridges, they are closed to the general public and named
merely in numerical succession from south to north.[107] Just above the
third gate, that is, about half way between the Golden Horn and the
Propontis, the walls dip inwards for a distance of nearly one hundred
yards, forming a crescent or, as the Greeks call it, Sigma.[108]
The first strategic gate, first also of the land-wall, being scarcely
a furlong from the Propontis, offers a notable exception to the
constructive plainness of all the other entries. Intended only as
a state entry to the capital for the display of Imperial pomp, it
has been built and adorned with the object of rendering it the most
splendid object in this part of the city. A pair of massive towers,
each one hundred feet high, advance from a façade of equal altitude,
which is traversed by three arched portals, that in the centre being
elevated to sixty feet. The whole is constructed in white marble,
and this chaste and imposing foundation is made resplendent by the
addition of gilded statues, bas-reliefs, and mouldings. From a central
pedestal above rises a figure of Victory[109] with flowing draperies,
her hand extended offering a laurel crown. At her feet stands an
equestrian statue of Theodosius the Great,[110] and from the extremity
of each tower springs the two-headed Byzantine eagle.[111] Below, the
surfaces of the monument are ensculptured all round with mythological
designs,[112] among which we may recognize Prometheus the Fire-giver,
Pegasus, Endymion, the labours of Hercules and many others. Corinthian
columns of green-veined marble[113] bound the main portal, within which
is erected a great cross.[114] In the fore area are placed a pair of
marble elephants, recalling those used by Theodosius in his triumphal
procession after the defeat of Maximus of Gaul; and behind these his
grandson,[115] the builder of the gate, has raised a column bearing a
statue of himself. Profusely gilded, this elaborate pile is popularly
and officially known as the Golden Gate.[116]
To proceed with our survey we may re-embark on the Propontis and skirt
the promontory by water from end to end of the land-wall, passing
through the mouth of the Bosphorus between Europe and Asia and
finishing our circuit in the upper reaches of the Golden Horn. The
single south wall, rising from the brink of the sea, is similar to that
of Anthemius, and the towers exhibit the same diversity of form.[117]
Courses of rough stones immersed in the water lie along its base and
form a kind of primitive breakwater, which saves its foundations from
being sapped by the waves in tempestuous weather. These are said to
have been quarried from the tops of the hills during the process of
levelling the ground for the extension of the city, and then, at the
suggestion of Constantine, sent rolling down the slopes until they
became lodged in their present position.[118]
Several gates in this wall give access to the water, but they possess
no architectural distinction. Westerly is the Porta Psamathia or
Sand-gate, so called because an area of new ground has been formed
here by silting up of sand outside the wall.[119] Near the opposite
extremity is the Porta Ferrea or Iron-gate, thus designated from the
unstable beach having been guarded by rails of iron to enable it to
sustain the ponderous burdens imported by Constantine.[120] Towards the
centre of this shore is situated the Gate of St. Aemilian, named from
its proximity to a church sacred to that martyr.[121] More noticeable
in this range of wall are the entrances to two excavated harbours,
each closed by a chain stretching between a pair of containing towers.
The first, at the foot of the Xerolophos, dates from the time of
Constantine, who called it the Port of Eleutherius[122] after his
master of the works. Remade by Theodosius I, it has since been most
commonly associated with the name of that emperor.[123] Paved at the
bottom and surrounded by a stone quay,[124] it is about a Roman mile
in circuit,[125] and is divided centrally by a dike into an inner and
outer basin.[126] More easterly is another similar but smaller harbour,
having only one basin, designated Port Julian[127] from its Imperial
founder, but it is more often spoken of as the New Port.[128] Owing,
however, to the exceptional suitability for shipping of the north side
of the city, both these harbours have gradually fallen into disuse
and, becoming choked with sand, have been looked on merely as fit
receptacles for the rubble accumulated in clearing building sites.[129]
But the Port of Julian is soon to be reopened, for, at the direction
of Anastasius, rotatory pumps have been fixed to empty it of its water
and dredging operations are in progress.[130] To insure its continued
patency a mole is even in course of construction in the Propontis over
against its mouth.[131] Passing the Porta Ferrea, as we begin to round
the headland, a large mansion or palace comes into view, substituted
apparently for the wall in about fifty feet of its length. Fronted
along its base with slabs of white marble, the edifice presents a
lofty stone balcony overhanging the water,[132] and opening on to it,
a central group of three rectangular windows or doors with jambs and
lintels of sculptured stone. Above, a row of seven nearly semicircular
windows indicates the uppermost floor of the building, which is known
as the palace of the Boukoleon. Contiguous, to the west, we observe a
small but very ornate harbour, formed on quite a different plan from
those previously seen. Curved piers of masonry, enriched with marbles,
extending from the land, inclose about an acre of water, which is
approached from the city by flights of white marble steps.[133] On
the intervening quay rests a handsome group of statuary representing
a lion and a bull in the agonies of a death struggle.[134] This is
the exclusive port of the Imperial Palace,[135] an important segment
of which adjoins the wall at this point. Both palace and harbour have
taken the name of Boukoleon from the piece of sculpture which so
conspicuously marks the site.[136] In this vicinity, behind the wall
on the city level, is the palace of the once famous Persian refugee,
Prince Hormisdas.[137]
Farther on is a small entry from the water leading to a chapel sacred
to the Theotokos, surnamed the Conductress, another foundation of
the devout Pulcheria.[138] Here are preserved a portrait of the
Virgin painted by St. Luke, the swaddling-clothes of Jesus, and other
recondite memorials of Gospel history[139] grafted by imposture on the
credulity of the age. This Conductress,[140] by virtue of a holy fount,
is credited with being able to point out the way for the blind to
receive their sight;[141] and a retreat for the blind, therefore, has
been established on the spot.[142]
As soon as we turn the north-east point, which marks the beginning of
the Golden Horn, we exchange the inhospitable aspect of a fortified
coast for a busy scene of maritime life. The wall recedes gradually
to some distance from the waterline and forms an inconspicuous
background to the impressive spectacle, which indicates the port
of entry of a vast city. In the course of over a mile the shore
has been fashioned into wharves from which three sets of stairs of
ample width descend to the water’s edge to facilitate the unloading
of vessels. The first stair, named from its constructor, is that of
Timasius;[143] next comes that of Chalcedon;[144] and lastly the
stairs of Sycae,[145] a region of the city on the opposite side of
the gulf. Alternating with the stairs are placed the entrances of
two excavated harbours: the Prosphorian Port[146] for the landing of
all kinds of imported provisions, and the Neorian Port, used chiefly
as a naval station and for ship-building. The quays of the latter
port, which are distinguished by the brazen statue of an ox, are also
habitually frequented by the merchants of Constantinople, who make it
their principal Exchange.[147] Similarly the vacant spaces about the
Prosphorian Port are set apart for a cattle market.[148]
The first issue from the city on this side is called the Gate of
Eugenius,[149] and is situated in the retreating portion of the wall.
More remarkable is the Tower of Eugenius, called also the Centenarian
Tower,[150] a massive pile closer to the bank, which corresponds to a
similar erection across the water. These structures are the work of
Constantine, who raised them to serve as the points of attachment of
a ponderous iron chain, which should close the Golden Horn against
the attack of a hostile fleet. So far, however, no enemy has been
encountered so adventurous as to necessitate the practical application
of this means of defence.[151]
Beyond the stairs of Sycae the locality is called the Zeugma.[152] This
tract is reserved for the storage of wood, which, coal being unknown,
is the only fuel available for cooking, heating of baths, and all other
purposes. Immense quantities have, therefore, to be brought down by sea
from the wild countries bordering on the Euxine[153] and deposited here
for the use of the Constantinopolitans. At this point we have reached
the limits of the wall of Byzantium and henceforth to the end of the
land-wall at Blachernae this side of the city lies open to the water.
Deeming it improbable that the town should ever be assaulted from this
sequestered inlet, Constantine and his successors have omitted to
fortify this bank. Originally this shore was indented by a number of
small creeks,[154] but the teeming population, overflowing into every
available space, has now so crowded the strand with houses that the
outer rank, founded on piles, extends beyond the water’s edge.[155]
In the further part of this district the stream becomes narrower, and
from a projecting point a wooden bridge has been thrown across to the
opposite shore.[156] In its vicinity a brazen dragon commemorates
or suggests a legend of virgins ravished and devoured until the
destruction of the monster by St. Hypatius.[157] A slight expansion of
the Golden Horn at Blachernae is called the Silver Bay.[158]
Having inspected the outside of Constantinople, it now remains for us
to enter the city and pass in review its principal streets, buildings,
and open spaces, whence we shall be led to make some acquaintance
with the manners and customs of its inhabitants. From the Gate of
Eugenius we can proceed directly to the most aristocratic quarter,
where a majority of the public buildings are clustered round the
Imperial Palace. Inside we shall find that thoroughfares of three
kinds intersect the city for the purposes of general traffic: (1) main
or business streets; (2) squares or market-places; and (3) lanes or
side-streets for private residents.
(1) A main street consists of an open paved road, not more than
fifteen feet wide, bounded on each side by a colonnade or portico.
More than fifty of such porticoes are in existence at this date, so
that a pedestrian can traverse almost the whole city under shelter
from sun or rain.[159] Many of them have an upper floor, approached by
wooden or stone steps, which is used as an _ambulacrum_ or promenade.
They are plentifully adorned with statuary of all kinds, especially
above,[160] and amongst these presentments of the reigning emperor
are not infrequent. The latter may be seen in busts of brass and
marble, in brazen masks, and even in painted tablets.[161] Such
images are consecrated and are sometimes surreptitiously adored
by the populace with religious rites.[162] They are also endowed
with the legal attribute of sanctuary, and slaves not uncommonly
fly to them for refuge as a protest against ill-treatment by their
masters.[163] Portraits of popular actors, actresses, and charioteers
may also be observed, but they are liable to be torn down if posted
close to the Imperial images or in any position too reputable for
their pretensions.[164] On the inside the porticoes are lined for the
most part by shops and workshops.[165] Opening on to them in certain
positions are public halls or auditoriums, architecturally decorative
and furnished with seats, where meetings can be held and professors
can lecture to classes on various topics.[166] Between the pillars of
the colonnades next the thoroughfare we find stalls and tables for
the sale of all kinds of wares. In the finer parts of the city such
stalls or booths must by law be ornamentally constructed and encrusted
outside with marbles so as not to mar the beauty of the piazza.[167]
At the tables especially are seated the money-changers or bankers, who
lend money at usury, receive it at interest, and act generally as the
pawnbrokers of the capital.[168] Such pleasant arcades have naturally
become the habitual resort of courtezans,[169] and they are recognized
as the legitimate place of shelter for the houseless poor.[170]
(2) The open spaces, to which the Latin name of _forum_ is applied
more often than the Greek word _agora_, are expansions of the main
streets, and, like them, are surrounded on all sides by porticoes. They
are not, however, very numerous and about a dozen will comprise all
that have been constructed within the capital. They originate in the
necessity of preserving portions of the ground unoccupied for use as
market-places, but the vacant area is always more or less decorative
and contains one or more monuments of ornament or utility. Each one
is named distinctively either from the nature of the traffic carried
on therein or in honour of its founder, and most of them will deserve
special attention during our itinerary of the city.
(3) The greater part of the ground area of Constantinople is, of
course, occupied by residential streets, and these are usually,
according to modern ideas, of quite preposterous narrowness.[171]
Few of them are more than ten feet wide, and this scanty space is
still more contracted above by projecting floors and balconies. In
many places also the public way is encroached upon by _solaria_ or
sun-stages, that is to say by balconies supported on pillars of wood
or marble, and often furnished with a flight of stairs leading to the
pavement below. In such alleys low windows, affording a view of the
street, or facile to lean out of,[172] are considered unseemly by the
inmates of opposite houses. Hence mere light-giving apertures, placed
six feet above the flooring, are the regular means of illumination.
Transparent glass is sometimes used for the closure of windows, but
more often we find thin plates of marble or alabaster with ornamental
designs figured on the translucent substance.[173] Simple wooden
shutters, however, are seen commonly enough in houses of the poorer
class.[174]
Impatient to see the immense vacant area which he added to Byzantium
covered with houses Constantine exercised little or no supervision over
private builders; necessary thoroughfares became more or less blocked,
walls of public edifices were appropriated as buttresses for hastily
erected tenements, and the task of evolving order out of the resulting
chaos was imposed on succeeding rulers.[175] On Constantinople becoming
the seat of empire, as a resident of the period remarks, “such a
multitude of people flocked hither from all parts, allured by military
or mercantile pursuits, that the citizens out of doors and even at home
are endangered by the unprecedented crush of men and animals.”[176] In
447 Zeno, taking advantage of an extensive fire, promulgated a very
stringent building act, contravention of which renders the offending
structure liable to demolition, and inflicts a fine of ten pounds of
gold on the owner. The architect also becomes liable in a similar
amount, and is even subjected to banishment if unable to pay.[177] By
this act, which remains permanently in force throughout the Empire,
the not very ample width of twelve feet is fixed for private streets,
_solaria_ and balconies must be at least ten feet distant from
similar projections on the opposite side, and not less than fifteen
feet above the pavement; whilst stairs connecting them directly
with the thoroughfare are entirely abolished. Prospective windows
also are forbidden in streets narrower than the statutory allowance
of twelve feet. These enactments, however, too restricted in their
practical application, have done but little to relieve the congested
thoroughfares. Thus, long afterwards, another resident complains that
every spot of ground is occupied by contiguous dwellings to such an
extent that “scarcely can an open space be discovered, which affords a
clear view of the sky without raising the eyes aloft.”[178]
These by-streets, of which there are more than four hundred[179] in
the capital, consist chiefly of houses suitable for single families of
the middle or lower classes. There are also, however, a large number
of dwellings for collective habitation, which cover a greater area and
rise by successive stories to an unusual height; but by law they are
not allowed to exceed an altitude of one hundred feet.[180] When one
side of such buildings is situated next a portico the adjacent part of
the ground floor is usually fitted up as a range of shops.[181]
Besides the ordinary domiciles, which constitute the bulk of the
city, there are the mansions or palaces of the wealthy, situated in
various choice and open positions throughout the town. Such residences
are generally two-storied, and have ornamental façades on which
sculptured pillars both above and below are conspicuous. The windows,
arched or rectangular, are divided by a central pilaster, and the
roof, usually slanting, is covered with wood or thin slabs of stone.
Within, a lofty hall is supported on tall columns surmounted by gilded
capitals, and the walls are inlaid with polished marbles of various
colours and textures. Throughout the house the principal apartments
are similarly decorated, and even bedrooms are not destitute of the
columnar adornments so dear to luxurious Byzantines. Ceilings are
almost invariably fretted and liberally gilt. In houses of this class
a central court, contained by a colonnade, giving air and light to
the whole building, is considered a necessity. Much wealth is often
expended in order to give this space the appearance of a landscape in
miniature. Trees wave, fountains play, and artificial streams roll over
counterfeited cliffs into pools stocked with tame fish.[182]
Within the gate of Eugenius we are on the northern slopes of the
first hill, whereon was placed the citadel of Byzantium. Rounding
it to the east we soon approach a tall Corinthian column of white
marble, bearing on its summit a statue of Byzas,[183] a memorial of the
victories by land and sea of Venerianus or other Byzantine generals
over the marauding Goths about 266.[184] “Fortune has returned to the
city,” so runs the inscription on the base, “since the Goths have
been overcome.”[185] But these events have now passed into oblivion,
and the vicinity is given up to low taverns, whilst in the popular
mind the monument is associated with the more signal exploits of
Pompey the Great in his Mithridatic wars.[186] To the south of this
pillar, and close to the eastern wall, is situated the Imperial
arsenal or Manganon, founded by Constantine, a repertory of weapons of
all descriptions, and of machines used in the attack and defence of
fortifications.[187] It contains, besides, a military library.[188]
Passing the Cynegium, a deserted amphitheatre of pre-Constantinian
date,[189] and a small theatre, we may make the circuit of the first
hill on the south side and enter the chief square of the city. This
area, the ancient market-place of Byzantium,[190] is called the
Augusteum,[191] that is the Imperial Forum; and it forms a court to
those edifices which are particularly frequented by the Emperor.
Around it are situated his Palace, his church, his Senate-House, and
a vast Circus or Hippodrome, where the populace and their ruler are
accustomed to meet face to face. Almost all the public buildings at
this date, which aspire to architectural beauty, are constructed more
or less exactly after the model of the classical Greek temple; that
is, they are oblong, and have at each end a pediment corresponding to
the extremities of a slanting roof. The eaves, projecting widely and
supported on pillars, form a portico round the body of the building,
which, in the most decorative examples, is excavated externally by a
series of niches for the reception of statues.[192] The vestibule of
the Palace, which opens on the southern portico of the Augusteum, is a
handsome pillared hall named Chalke, or the Brazen House, from being
roofed with tiles of gilded brass.[193] An image of Christ, devoutly
placed over the brazen gates which close the entrance, dates back
to Constantine,[194] but the remainder of the building has lately
been restored by Anastasius.[195] This vestibule leads to several
spacious chambers or courts which are rather of an official than of a
residential character. Amongst these most room is given to the quarters
of the Imperial guards, which are divided into four companies called
Scholars, Excubitors, Protectors, and Candidates respectively.[196]
The latter are distinguished by wearing white robes when in personal
attendance on the Emperor.[197] Here also we find a state prison, the
Noumera, a great banqueting hall, the Triclinium of Nineteen Couches,
and a Consistorium or Throne-room.[198] Three porphyry steps at one
end of this apartment lead to the throne itself, which consists of
an elaborately carved chair adorned with ivory, jewels, and precious
metals. It is placed beneath a silver _ciborium_, that is, a small
dome raised on four pillars just sufficiently elevated to permit of
the occupant standing upright. The whole is ornamentally moulded, a
pair of silver eagles spread their wings on the top of the dome, and
the interior can be shut in by drawing rich curtains hung between the
columns.[199]
Beyond Chalke, the term includes its dependencies, we enter a court,
colonnaded as usual, which leads on the right to a small church
dedicated to St. Stephen,[200] the upper galleries of which overlook
the Hippodrome. On the left, that is on the east of this court, is
an octagonal hall, the first chamber in a more secluded section of
the palace called Daphne.[201] It derives its name from a notable
statue of Daphne, so well known in Greek fable as the maiden who
withstood Apollo.[202] On the domed roof of this second vestibule
stands a figure, representing the Fortune of the City, erected by
Constantine.[203] The palace of Daphne contains the private reception
rooms of the Emperor and Empress, whose chief personal attendants are
a band of nobles entitled Silentiaries. The duty of these officers,
amongst whom Anastasius was included before his elevation to the
purple,[204] is to keep order in the Imperial chambers.[205] The
terraces and balconies of Daphne, which face the west, overlook the
Hippodrome. Adjoining the Palace on the south is an area fitted up as
a private circus, which is used by members of the Court for equestrian
exercises.[206]
Passing through Daphne to the east we enter a further court, and find
ourselves opposite a third vestibule which, being of a semi-elliptical
form, is called the Sigma of the Palace.[207] The division of the
Imperial residence to which this hall introduces us is specially
the Sacred or “God-guarded” Palace, because it contains the “sacred
cubicle” or sleeping apartment of the Emperor.[208] In this quarter
a numerous band of cubicularies or eunuchs of the bed-chamber have
their principal station, controlled by the Praepositus of the sacred
cubicle.[209] Here also are a crowd of vestiaries or dressers who are
occupied with the royal apparel, including females of various grades
with similar titles for the service of the Empress. At the eastern
limit of the Palace stands the Pharos, a beacon tower afterwards, if
not now, the first of a series throughout Asia Minor by which signals
were flashed to and from the capital.[210] The Tzykanisterion,[211]
Imperial Gardens, large enough to be called a park, occupies a
great part of the south-eastern corner of the peninsula.[212] It is
surrounded, or rather fortified, by substantial walls which join the
sea walls of the city on the east and south.[213] The western section,
which terminates on the south near the palace of Hormisdas and Port
Julian, is surmounted by a covered terrace named the Gallery of
Marcian,[214] the emperor who caused it to be constructed. A detached
edifice within this inclosure, close to the Bucoleon Port, possesses
considerable historical interest. It is called the Porphyry Palace,
and Constantine is said to have enjoined on his successors that each
empress at her lying-in should occupy a chamber in this building.[215]
Hence the royal children are distinguished by the epithet of
Porphyrogeniti or “born in the purple.” The edifice is square, and the
roof rises to a point like a pyramid. The walls and floors are covered
with a rare species of speckled purple marble imported from Rome.[216]
Hence its name. All parts of the Imperial palace are profusely adorned
with statues, some mythological, others historical, representing rulers
of the Empire, their families, or prominent statesmen and generals.
Chapels or oratories dedicated to various saints are attached to every
important section of the building.[217]
The north side of the Augusteum, opposite the vestibule of Chalke,
is occupied by an oblong edifice with an arched wooden roof,[218] the
basilica of St. Sophia,[219] commonly called the Great Church. The
entrance faces the east,[220] and leads from a cloistered forecourt
to a narrow hall, named the _narthex_, which extends across the whole
width of the church. The interior consists of a wide nave separated
from lateral aisles by rows of Corinthian columns, which support a
gallery on each side. At the end of the nave stands the pulpit or
_ambo_,[221] approached by a double flight of steps, one on each side.
Behind the _ambo_ the body of the church is divided from the _Bema_
or chancel by a lofty carved screen, decorated with figures of sacred
personages, called later the _Iconostasis_ or image-stand. Three doors
in the _Iconostasis_ lead to the _Bema_, which contains the altar,[222]
a table of costly construction enriched with gold and gems, and covered
by a large and handsome _ciborium_. The edifice is terminated by an
apse furnished with an elevated seat, which forms the throne of the
Patriarch or Archbishop of Constantinople.[223] Light enters through
mullioned windows glazed with plates of translucent marble. Every
available space in the church is adorned with statues to the number of
several hundreds, the majority of them representing pagan divinities
and personifications of the celestial signs. Among them is a nearly
complete series of the Roman emperors, whilst Helena, the mother of
Constantine, appears thrice over in different materials, porphyry,
silver, and ivory.[224] Close to St. Sophia on the north is the church
of St. Irene, one of the earliest buildings erected for Christian
worship by Constantine. It is usually called the Old Church.[225]
Between these two sacred piles stands a charitable foundation,
Sampson’s Hospital, practically a refuge for incurables reduced by
disease to a state of destitution.[226] Yet a third place of worship in
this locality to the north-west of the Great Church may be mentioned,
Our Lady (Theotokos) of the Brassworkers, built in a tract previously
devoted to Jewish artisans of that class.[227]
On the east side of the Augusteum are situated two important public
buildings, viz., the Senate-house, and, to the south of it, a palatial
hall, the grand triclinium of Magnaura.[228] The latter stands
back some distance from the square in an open space planted with
trees,[229] and consists of a pillared façade, from whence we pass into
a vast chamber supported on marble columns. It is the largest of the
State reception rooms, and is the established rendezvous of Imperial
pageantry whenever it is desirable to overawe the mind of foreign
ambassadors.[230]
Next to Chalke on the west is placed the handsomest public bath in the
city, that of Zeuxippus, the most ambitious work of Severus during his
efforts at restoration.[231] It is compassed by ample colonnades which
are conjoined with those of the Palace,[232] and are especially notable
for their wealth of statuary in bronze and marble, dating from the best
period of Grecian art. Within and without, in the palatial halls and
chambers encrusted with marble and mosaic work, and in the niches of
the porticoes, are to be found almost all the gods and goddesses, the
poets, politicians, and philosophers of Greece and Rome, as celebrated
by the Coptic poet Christodorus in a century of epigrams.[233] Amongst
these a draped full-length figure of Homer is particularly admired:
with his arms crossed upon his breast, his hair and beard unkempt, his
brows bent in deep thought, his eyes fixed and expressionless in token
of blindness, the bard is represented as he lived, absorbed in the
creation of some sublime epic.[234] The bath, or institution,[235]
as it may properly be called, is brilliantly illuminated during the
dark hours of night and morning on an improved system devised by the
Praefect Cyrus Constantine.[236]
On the west side of the Augusteum the ground is chiefly taken up by
a large covered bazaar, in which dress fabrics of the most expensive
kind, silks, and cloth of gold, are warehoused for sale to the
Byzantine aristocracy. It is known as the House of Lamps, on account
of the multitude of lights which are here ignited for the display of
the goods after nightfall.[237] Close by is the Octagon, an edifice
bordered by eight porticoes. It contains a library and a lecture
theatre, and is the meeting-place of a faculty of erudite monks, who
constitute a species of privy council frequently consulted by the
Emperor.[238] Preferment to the highest ecclesiastical dignities is the
recognized destiny of its members. In the same vicinity is a basilica
named the Royal Porch, wherein is preserved a library founded by the
Emperor Julian.[239] Here principally judicial causes are heard, and
its colonnades have become the habitual resort of advocates, who for
the greater part of each day frequent the place in expectation of, or
consulting with, clients.[240]
In the open area of the Augusteum we may notice several important
monuments. South of St. Sophia are two silver statues raised on
pedestals, one on the west representing the great Theodosius,[241]
and another on the east opposite the Senate-house, a female figure
in a trailing robe, the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius. This is
the famous statue round which the populace used to dance and sing so
as to disturb the church service in the time of Chrysostom, whose
invectives against the custom were deemed an insult by the Court, and
made the occasion of his deposition and banishment.[242] Adjoining is
a third statue, that of Leo Macella, elevated by means of a succession
of steps, whereon popular suitors for Imperial justice are wont to
deposit their petitions. These are regularly collected and submitted
to the Emperor for his decision, whence the monument is called the
Pittakia or petition-stone.[243] Near the same spot is a fountain
known as the Geranium.[244] The most important structure, however,
is the Golden Milestone or Milion,[245] situated in the south-west
corner of the square. This is merely a gilded column to mark the
starting-point of the official measurement of distances, which are
registered systematically on mile-stones fixed along all the main
roads of the Empire. But, in order to signalize its position, a grand
triumphal arch, quadrilateral, with equal sides, and four entries, has
been erected above it. The arch is surmounted by figures of Constantine
and his mother holding a great cross between them. This group is
of such magnitude that it is not dwarfed by equestrian statues of
Trajan and Hadrian, which are placed behind it.[246] Beneath the arch
a flying group, representing the chariot of the Sun, drawn by four
flame-coloured horses, is elevated upon two lofty pillars.[247]
The Hippodrome or Circus commences near the Milion, whence it stretches
southwards towards the sea and terminates in the vicinity of the
Sigma of Julian,[248] a crescentic portico verging on the harbour
of that name. It is an artificially constructed racecourse having
an external length of about a quarter of a mile, and a breadth of
nearly half that distance. This elongated space, straight on the north
and round at the opposite end, is contained within a corniced wall
decorated outside with engaged Corinthian columns, thirty feet in
height.[249] Owing to the declivity of the ground as it sinks towards
the shore, the circular portion of the architectural boundary is
supported on arcades which gradually diminish in altitude on each
side as they approach the centre of the inclosure.[250] Interiorly,
except at the straight end, a sloping series of marble benches[251]
runs continuously round the arena, the level of which is maintained
in the _sphendone_ or rounded part by the vaulted substructions based
on the incline of the hill.[252] The northern extremity is flanked
by a pair of towers, between which, on the ground level, lies the
Manganon,[253] offices for the accommodation of horses, chariots, and
charioteers. Above the Manganon is placed the Kathisma,[254] the name
given to the seat occupied in state by the Emperor, when viewing the
races. It is situated in a covered balcony or lodge fronted by a low
balustrade, and is surrounded by an ample space for the reception of
guards and attendant courtiers. In advance of the Kathisma, but on a
lower level, is a square platform sustained by marble columns called
the Stama, which is the station of a company of Imperial guards with
standard-bearers.[255] Behind the Kathisma is a suite of retiring
rooms, from whence a winding staircase[256] leads, by the gallery of
St. Stephen’s chapel, to the colonnades of Daphne. This is the royal
route to the Circus.[257] The whole of the edifice superimposed on the
Manganon is named the Palace of the Kathisma or of the Hippodrome.[258]
A narrow terrace constructed in masonry, about three feet high,
extends along the centre of the arena equidistant from all parts of
the peripheral boundary. This Spine, as it was called in the old Roman
nomenclature, but now renamed the Euripus,[259] serves to divide the
track of departure from that of return. It is adorned from end to end
with a range of monuments of great diversity. In the middle stands
an Egyptian obelisk, inscribed with the usual hieroglyphs, resting
on four balls sustained in turn by a square pedestal. An inscription
at the bottom of the pedestal, illustrated by diagrams, exhibits the
engineering methods adopted under the great Theodosius for the erection
of the monolith on its present site; higher up elaborate sculptures
show the Emperor in his seat presiding at the games.[260] Farther to
the south is a still loftier column of the same shape, covered with
brass plates, called the Colossus.[261] Intermediately is the brazen
pillar, ravished from the temple of Delphi, composed of the twisted
bodies of three serpents, whose heads formerly supported the golden
tripod dedicated to Apollo by the Grecian states in memory of the
defeat of the Persians at Plateia.[262] The names of the subscribing
communities can still be read engraved on the folds of the snakes.
Adjacent is a lofty pillar bearing the figure of a nymph with flowing
robes, who holds forth a mail-clad knight mounted on horseback with
one hand.[263] Near the south end is a fountain or bath with a central
statue, known as the Phial of the Hippodrome.[264] Contiguous is an
aedicule raised on four pillars, in which is displayed the laurelled
bust of the reigning Emperor.[265] Above the obelisk, on a column, is
a celebrated statue of Hercules Trihesperus by Lysippus; the hero of
colossal size, in a downcast mood seated on his lion’s hide.[266] There
are also several pyramids in various positions along the Spine as well
as numerous figures of famous charioteers interspersed among the other
ornaments.[267] To these are to be added the necessary furniture of
the Spine of a Roman Circus, viz., the narrow stages raised on a pair
of pillars at each end, the one supporting seven ovoid bodies, by the
removal or replacing of which the spectators at both extremities are
enabled to see how many laps of the course have been travelled over by
the chariots; the other, seven dolphins,[268] ornamental waterspouts
through which water is pumped into the Phial beneath.[269] At each
end of the Euripus are the usual triple cones,[270] figured with
various devices, the “goals” designed to make the turning-points of
the arena conspicuous. Over the Manganon, on each side external to the
Kathisma, are a pair of gilded horses removed by Theodosius II from
the Isle of Chios.[271] The Podium, or lower boundary of the marble
benches, is elevated about twelve feet above the floor of the arena
by a columnar wall;[272] at the upper limit of these seats a level
terrace or promenade is carried completely round the Circus. This walk
is crowded with statues in brass and stone, many of them inscribed with
their place of origin, from whence they have been carried off.[273] A
number of them are deserving of special mention: a bronze eagle with
expanded pinions rending a viper with its talons, and engraved with
mystic symbols beneath the wings, said to have been erected by the
arch-charlatan or illusionist, Apollonius Tyaneus, as a charm against
the serpents which infested Byzantium;[274] a group representing the
semi-piscine Scylla devouring the companions of Ulysses, who had
been engulfed by Charybdis;[275] the figure of a eunuch named Plato,
formerly a Grand Chamberlain, removed from a church notwithstanding a
prohibition cut on the breast: “May he who moves me be strangled”;[276]
a man driving an ass, set up by Augustus at Actium in memory of his
having met, the night before that battle, a wayfarer thus engaged,
who, on being questioned, replied, “I am named Victor, my ass is
Victoria, and I am going to Caesar’s camp;”[277] the infants Romulus
and Remus with their foster-mother the wolf;[278] a Helen of the
rarest beauty, her charms enhanced by the most captivating dress and
ornaments; a factitious basilisk crushing an asp between its teeth;
a hippopotamus, a man grappling with a lion, several sphinxes,[279]
a well-known hunchback in a comic attitude,[280] statues of emperors
on foot and on horseback, and various subjects from pagan mythology,
the whole representing the spoliation of more than a score of cities
looted in time of peace at the caprice of a despot.[281] Four handsome
arched gateways, two on each side, with containing towers,[282] give
the public access to the interior of the Hippodrome.[283] That on the
south-east is named the Gate of the Dead,[284] a term which originated
at the time when a special entry was reserved for removing the bodies
of those slain in the fatal, but now obsolete, combats of gladiators.
The Sphendone, however, is now frequently used for the execution of
offenders of rank, not always criminal, and this portal has still,
therefore, some practical right to its name.[285] When necessary, the
Circus can be covered with an awning as a protection against the sun or
bad weather.[286]
From the western arch of the Milion we enter the Mese, that is, the
Middle, Main, or High Street of the city, which traverses the whole
town from east to west with a southerly inclination between the
Augusteum and the Golden Gate. It is bounded in almost all of its
course by porticoes said to have been constructed by Eubulus, one
of the wealthy Romans who were induced to migrate by Constantine.
The same patrician gifted the city with two other colonnades which
extend for a considerable distance along the eastern portion of the
north and south shores.[287] The Mese proceeds at first between the
north of the Hippodrome and the Judicial or Royal Basilica with
the adjacent buildings already mentioned. Contiguous to the Royal
Porch is a life-size statue of an elephant with his keeper, erected
by Severus to commemorate the fact that the animal had killed a
money-changer, who was afterwards proved dishonest, to avenge the
death of his master.[288] Near the western flank of the Circus is the
Palace of Lausus, said to be one of those reared by Constantine to
allure some of the Roman magnates to reside permanently in his new
capital.[289] Subsequently, however, it was transformed into an inn
for the public entertainment of strangers.[290] In its vestibule and
galleries were collected many gems of Grecian statuary, but most of
these have been destroyed by the great fire which raged in this quarter
under Zeno.[291] Amongst them were the celebrated Venus of Cnidos in
white marble, a nude work of Praxiteles;[292] the Lindian Athene in
smaragdite; the Samian Hera of Lysippus; a chryselephantine, or ivory
and gold statue of Zeus by Phidias, which Pericles placed in the temple
at Olympia;[293] an allegorical figure of Time by Lysippus, having hair
on the frontal part of the head, but with the back bald; and also many
figures of animals, including a cameleopard.[294]
Proceeding onwards for about a quarter of a mile we pass on our
right the Argyropratia, that is, the abode of the silversmiths,[295]
and arrive at the Forum of Constantine, which presents itself as an
expansion of the Mese. This open space, the most signal ornament of
Constantinople, is called prescriptively the Forum; and sometimes,
from its finished marble floor, “The Pavement.” Two lofty arches of
white Proconnesian marble, opposed to each other from east to west,
are connected by curvilinear porticoes so as to inclose a circular
area.[296] From its centre rises a tall porphyry column bound at
intervals with brazen laurel wreaths. This pillar is surmounted by
a figure of Constantine with the attributes of the Sun-god, his
head resplendent with a halo of gilded rays.[297] The mystic Trojan
Palladium, furtively abstracted from Rome, is buried beneath the
monument, on the base of which an inscription piously invokes Christ
to become the guardian of the city.[298] The sculptural decorations of
this Forum are very numerous: the Fortune of the City, called Anthusa,
was originally set up here, and adored with bloodless sacrifices;[299]
a pair of great crosses inscribed with words of the Creed and Doxology
are erected on opposite sides; Constantine with his mother Helena, and
a pair of winged angels form a group about the one, whilst the sons of
the same emperor surround the other.[300] Here also may be seen Athene,
her neck encircled by snakes emanating from the Gorgon’s head fixed
in her aegis; Amphitrite distinguished by a crown of crab’s claws; a
dozen statues of porphyry ranged in one portico, and an equal number of
gilded sirens or sea-horses in the other; and lastly the bronze gates
bestowed by Trajan on the temple of Diana at Ephesus, embossed with
a series of subjects illustrating the theogonies of Greece and Rome.
These latter adorn the entrance to the original Senate-house which is
situated on the south side of the Forum.[301]
If we diverge from the Mese slightly to the north-east of the Pavement,
we shall enter a large square named the Strategium, from its forming
a parade-ground to the barracks of the Palatine troops.[302] Amongst
several monuments a Theban obelisk conspicuously occupies the middle
place,[303] but the most striking object is an equestrian figure of
Constantine with the pillar alongside it by which Constantinople
is officially declared to be a second Rome.[304] This locality is
associated in historic tradition with Alexander the Great, of whom it
contains a commemorative statue.[305] From hence he is said to have
started on his expedition against Darius after holding a final review
of his forces. On this account it was chosen by Severus as a permanent
site for military quarters.[306] The public prison is also located in
this square.[307]
Continuing our way beneath the piazzas of the Mese beyond the Forum
of Constantine we reach the district known as the Artopolia or public
bakeries which lie to the north of the main street. A strange group
of statuary, allegorizing the fecundity of nature, is collocated in
this region, viz., a many-headed figure in which the faces of a dozen
animals are seen in conjunction; amongst them are those of a lion, an
eagle, a peacock, a ram, a bull, a crow, a mouse, a hare, a cat, and
a weasel. This eccentric presentment is flanked by a pair of marble
Gorgons.[308] Adjacent we may also observe a paved area in which a
cross stands conspicuously on a pillar, another record of the hybrid
piety of Constantine.[309]
Farther on by a couple of furlongs is the great square of Taurus, also
called the Forum of Theodosius, through its being specially devoted to
memorials of that prince. It covers an oblong space, extending from
level ground on the south up the slope of the third hill, the summit
of which it includes in its northern limit.[310] This eminence, in
accordance with the conception of making Constantinople a counterpart
of Rome, is called the Capitol, and is occupied by an equivalent of
the Tabularium, that is, by a building which contains the Imperial
archives.[311] Similarly, this site has been chosen for an edifice
composed of halls and a lecture-theatre assigned to a faculty of thirty
professors appointed by government to direct the liberal studies of
the youth of the capital—in short, for the University, as we may call
it, of Constantinople.[312] The principal monument in Taurus is the
column of Theodosius I, the sculptural shaft of which illustrates in
an ascending spiral the Gothic victories of that Emperor.[313] But the
equestrian statue which originally crowned this pictured record of his
achievements, having been overthrown by an earthquake, has lately been
replaced by a figure of the unwarlike Anastasius.[314] To the north
of this column, on a tetrapyle or duplex arch, Theodosius the Less
presides over the titular Forum of his grandfather.[315] But in the
fading memory of the populace the figure of this Emperor is already
confounded with a horseman said to have been abstracted from Antioch,
whom some imagine to be Jesus Nava,[316] and others Bellerophon.[317]
Facing each other from east to west on opposite sides of the square
are arches supporting figures of those degenerate representatives of
the Theodosian dynasty, Arcadius and Honorius.[318] To the western of
these arches we may observe that an assortment of troublesome insects,
counterfeited in brass, have been carefully affixed—another charm
of Apollonius Tyaneus intended to protect the inhabitants against
such diminutive pests.[319] In this vicinity is also a palace, built
by Constantine, in which strangers from all parts are hospitably
entertained without expense or question.[320]
From the west side of Taurus we may perceive the great aqueduct
of Valens, which crosses the third valley, and is here conjoined
with the chief _Nymphaeum_, a decorative public hall built around a
fountain.[321] Several of these _Nymphaea_ exist in the city, and they
are often made use of for private entertainments, especially nuptial
festivals, by citizens who have not sufficient space for such purposes
in their own homes.[322] The water supply of the town is under the
care of a special Consul, and very stringent laws are in force to
prevent waste or injury to the structures necessary for its storage
and distribution.[323] With the exception, however, of that of Valens,
aerial aqueducts (so conspicuous at Rome) have not been carried near
to, or within, the walls of Constantinople; and subterranean pipes
of lead or earthenware are the usual means of conveying the precious
liquid from place to place.[324] The public cisterns are in themselves
a striking architectural feature of the city. Some of these are open
basins, but many of them possess vaulted roofs, upborne by hundreds of
columns whose capitals are sculptured in the varied styles of Byzantine
art.[325] Most of these receptacles for water are distinguished by
special names; thus, beneath the Sphendone of the Hippodrome, we have
the Cold cistern,[326] and near to the palace or _hospice_ of Lausus
the Philoxenus, or Travellers’ Friend.[327] By a law of Theodosius II,
the wharf dues, paid for the use of the various stairs on the Golden
Horn, are applied to the repair of the aqueducts, the supply of water
from which is free to the public.[328] In connection with the cisterns
a group of three storks in white marble is pointed out as a further
result of the fruitful visit of Apollonius Tyaneus to Byzantium; owing
to the district becoming infested by serpents, flocks of these birds
were attracted hither, and caused a terrible nuisance through having
contracted a habit of casting the dead bodies of the reptiles into the
water reservoirs; but the erection of this monument speedily achieved
their perpetual banishment from the city.[329]
If we step aside a short distance from Taurus, both on the north and
south sides, we shall in each case come upon an interesting monument.
1. On the far side of the Capitol, overlooking the Zeugma, on a marble
pillar, is a noted statue of Venus, which marks the site of the only
_lupanar_ permitted by Constantine to exist in his new capital.[330]
Around, each secluded within its curtained lattice, are a series
of bowers consecrated to the illicit, or rather mercenary, amours
of the town. The goddess, however, who presides here is credited
with a remarkable leaning towards chastity; for, it is believed,
that if a wife or maid suspected of incontinence be brought to this
statue, instead of denying her guilt, she will by an irresistible
impulse cast off her garments so as to give an ocular proof of her
shamelessness.[331] 2. To the south, elevated on four pillars, is a
lofty pyramid of bronze, the apex of which sustains a female figure
pivoted so as to turn with every breath of wind. The surfaces of the
pyramid are decorated with a set of much admired bas-reliefs; on one
side a sylvan scene peopled with birds depicted in flight or song; on
another a pastoral idyl representing shepherds piping to their flocks,
whilst the lambs are seen gambolling over the green; again, a marine
view with fishers casting their nets amid shoals of fish startled and
darting in all directions; lastly, a mimic battle in which mirthful
bands of Cupids assault each other with apples and pomegranates. This
elaborate vane, which is visible over a wide area, is known as the
_Anemodulion_, or Slave of the Winds.[332]
Beyond Taurus the Mese leads us to the _Philadelphium_, a spot
dedicated to brotherly love and embellished by a group representing
the three sons of Constantine in an affectionate attitude. The
monument commemorates the last meeting of these noble youths, who,
on hearing of the death of their father, encountered each other here
prior to assuming the government of their respective divisions of
the Empire.[333] Opposite is another group of the same princes, who
ultimately destroyed each other, erected by Constantine himself with
the usual accompaniment of a large gilt cross.[334] A few paces farther
on, our route is again interrupted by a square, the entrance to which
is marked by a Tetrapyle, or arch of four portals, executed in brass.
Above the first gateway is affixed a significant symbol, namely, a
modius or measure for wheat standing between a pair of severed hands.
It records the punishment by Valentinian I of an unjust dealer who
ignored his law that corn should be sold to the people with the measure
heaped up to overflowing.[335] The Forum on which the Tetrapyle opens
is called the _Amastrianum_, perhaps from a wanderer belonging to
Amastris in Paphlagonia, who was found dead on this spot.[336] It is
the usual place of public execution for the lower classes, whether
capital or by mutilation.[337] This square, which is close to the
streamlet Lycus,[338] is no exception to the rule that such open spaces
should be crowded with statues. Among them we may notice the Sun-god in
a marble chariot, a reclining Hercules, shells with birds resting on
the rim, and nearly a score of dragons.[339]
Yet two more open spaces on the Mese arrest our progress as we proceed
to the Golden Gate. The first is the Forum of the Ox, which contains a
colossal quadruped of that species brought hither from Pergamus.[340]
This is in reality a brazen furnace for the combustion of malefactors
condemned to perish by fire, and has the credit of having given some
martyrs to the Church, especially under the Emperor Julian.[341]
Farther on is the last square we shall find it necessary to view, the
Forum of Arcadius, founded by that prince.[342] Its distinguishing
monument is a column similar in every way to that in Taurus,[343]
but the silver statue which surmounts it is the figure of Arcadius
himself.[344] We are now on the top of the Xerolophos, and the
colonnades which lead hence to the walls of Theodosius are named the
_Porticus Troadenses_.[345] But about halfway to the present Imperial
portal we pass through the original Golden Gate,[346] a landmark
which has been spared in the course of the old walls of Constantine.
The extensive tract added by Theodosius II to the interior of the
city was formerly the camping ground of the seven bodies of Gothic
auxiliaries, and for that reason was divided into seven districts,
denoted numerically from south to north. The whole of this quarter is
now spoken of as the _Exokionion_, that is, the region outside the
Pillar, in allusion to a well-known statue of Constantine which marks
the border.[347] But, in order to particularize the smaller areas of
this quarter, some of the numbers are still found indispensable, and
we often hear of the Deuteron, Triton, Pempton, and Hebdomon. Adjacent
to the Golden Gate is situated the great monastery of St. John Studii,
which maintains a thousand monks.[348]
On entering the _Exokionion_ the Mese gives off a branch thoroughfare
which leads to the Gate of the Fountain, skirting on its way the church
of St. Mocius, a place of worship granted to the Arians by Theodosius
I when he established the Nicene faith at Constantinople.[349] By this
route also we arrive at a portico which adorns the interior of the
mural Sigma,[350] and contains a monument to Theodosius II erected by
his Grand Chamberlain, the infamous eunuch Chrysaphius.[351]
If we now retrace our steps to the Philadelphium and diverge thence
from the Mese in a north-westerly direction, we shall soon reach
the church of the Holy Apostles, the most imposing of the Christian
edifices founded by Constantine. It is contained within an open court
surrounded by cloisters, on which give the numerous offices required
for the guardians of the sacred precincts. This church is one of the
first of those constructed in the form of a cross.[352] Outside it is
covered with variegated marbles, and the roof is composed of tiles of
gilded brass. The interior is elaborately decorated with a panelled
ceiling and walls invested with trellis-work of an intricate pattern,
the whole being profusely gilded. Cenotaphs ranged in order are
consecrated to the honour and glory of the Twelve Apostles, and in the
midst of these is a porphyry sarcophagus wherein repose the remains of
Constantine himself and his mother. The building is in fact a _heroon_
or mausoleum designed to perpetuate the fulminating flattery of the
period by which Constantine was declared to be the “equal of the
Apostles.”[353] Subsequently, however, this religious pile was adopted
as the customary place of interment of the Imperial families, and many
tombs of royal personages are now to be seen scattered around. Amongst
them lie the sons of Constantine, Theodosius I and II, Arcadius,
Marcian, Pulcheria, Leo I, and Zeno.[354] On leaving this spot, if
we turn to the south for a short distance, we shall be enabled to
examine a tall column with a heavy capital elaborately sculptured in a
Byzantino-Corinthian style. An inscription on the pedestal testifies
to its having been erected by the Praefect Tatian to the memory of the
Emperor Marcian.[355]
The region of Sycae, built on the steep slope of the hill which rises
almost from the water’s edge to the north of the Golden Horn, is
considered to be an integral part of the city. It is particularly
associated with the brother of Arcadius, the enervated Honorius, who
ruled the Western Empire for more than thirty years, an effigy rather
than the reality of a king. Thus the Forum of Honorius constitutes
its market-place, and its public baths are also distinguished by the
name of the same prince. It possesses, moreover, a dock and a church
with gilded tiles, and is fortified in the usual way by a wall with
towers.[356]
[Illustration:
_Diagram of =CP.= in 6th century. Latitude 41° N._ (_Nearly level with
Naples and Madrid_)]
Rome was divided by Augustus into fourteen regions or parishes, to each
of which he appointed a body of public officers whose functions much
resembled those of a modern Vestry.[357] The municipal government of
the new Rome is an almost exact imitation of that instituted by the
founder of the Empire for the old capital. Here are the same number
of regions, named numerically and counted in order from east to west,
beginning at the end of the promontory. The last two of these, however,
are outside the wall of Constantine, that is to say, Blachernae on the
north-west and Sycae over the water. To each division is assigned a
_Curator_ or chief controller, a _Vernaculus_ or beadle, who performs
the duties of a public herald, five _Vicomagistri_, who form a night
patrol for the streets, and a considerable number of _Collegiati_, in
the tenth region as many as ninety, whose duty it is to rush to the
scene of fires with hatchets and water-buckets.[358] At night the main
thoroughfares are well lighted by flaring oil-lamps.[359]
One remarkable feature of the city, to be encountered by the visitor at
every turn, is an elevated shed which can be approached on all sides
by ranges of steps. These “Steps,” as they are briefly called, are
stations for the gratuitous daily distribution of provisions to the
poorer citizens. Every morning a concourse of the populace repairs to
the Step attached to their district, and each person, on presenting a
wooden _tessera_ or ticket, inscribed with certain amounts, receives
a supply of bread, and also a dole of oil, wine, and flesh.[360]
More than six score of such stations are scattered throughout the
town, and the necessary corn is stored in large granaries which are
for the most part replenished by ships arriving every season from
Alexandria.[361] More than twenty public bakeries furnish daily the
required demand of bread.[362] Besides free grants of food and houses
for the entertainment of strangers, the city contains various other
charities under the direction of state officials, the chief of which
are hospitals for the sick and aged, orphanages, poor-houses, and
institutions for the reception of foundlings.[363] A medical officer,
entitled an arch-physician, with a public stipend, is attached to each
parish to attend gratuitously to the poor.[364]
The civic authorities are well aware that disease arises from putrid
effluvia, and hence an elaborate system of deep drainage has been
constructed so that all sewage is carried by multiple channels into the
sea.[365] Since the introduction of Christianity, cremation has become
obsolete, and burial in the earth is universally practised.[366] Public
cemeteries, however, are not allowed within the walls, but churches and
monasteries are permitted to devote a portion of their precincts to
the purpose of interment. Such limited space is necessarily reserved
for members of the hierarchy and persons of a certain rank, who have
been beneficiaries of the church or order.[367]
We may here terminate our exploration of the topography of
Constantinople, content to leave a multitude of objects, both
interesting and important, beyond the limits of our survey. Were I to
attempt the description of everything worthy of notice in the city,
my exposition would soon resemble the catalogue of a museum, and
the reader’s attention would expire under the sense of interminable
enumerations. Our picture has been filled in with sufficient detail to
convey the impression of a vast capital laid out in colonnaded squares
and streets, to the adornment of which all that Grecian art could
evolve in architecture and statuary has been applied with a lavishness
attainable only by the fiat of a wide-ruling despot.
III. SOCIOLOGY
To make this chapter fully consonant to its title it now remains for
us to pass in review the sociological condition of the inhabitants,
whilst we try to learn something of their mode of life, their national
characteristics, and their mental aptitudes. We have already seen that
in the case of the Neo-Byzantines or Lesser Greeks,[368] the path of
evolution lay through a series of historical vicissitudes in which
there was more of artificial forcing than of the insensible growth
essential to the formation of a homogeneous people. Owing to its
geographical position it was perhaps inevitable from the first that
Byzantium should become a cosmopolitan town, whose population should
develop little political stability or patriotic coherence. In addition,
however, it happened that the Megareans, their chief progenitors, had
gained an unenviable notoriety throughout Greece; they were generally
esteemed to be gluttonous, slothful, ineffective, and curiously
prolific in courtesans, who, for some reason which now escapes us,
were peculiarly styled “Megarean sphinxes.”[369] Once established on
the Golden Horn the Byzantines seem to have found life very easy;
their fisheries were inexhaustible and facile beyond belief;[370]
whilst the merchants trading in those seas soon flocked thither so
that port dues furnished an unearned and considerable income. As a
consequence the bulk of the populace spent their time idling in the
market-place or about the wharves, each one assured of meeting some
visitor to whom for a valuable consideration he was willing to let his
house and even his wife, whilst he himself took up his abode in the
more congenial wine-shop. So firmly did this dissolute mode of life
gain a footing, that when the town was besieged the citizens could
not be rallied to defend the walls until the municipal authorities
had set up drinking-booths on the ramparts.[371] Law was usually in
abeyance,[372] finance disorganized,[373] and political independence
forfeit to the leading power of the moment, whether Greek or Persian.
Such was the community whose possession of a matchless site decided
Constantine to select them as the nucleus of population for his new
Rome, the meditated capital of the East. And, in order to fill with
life and movement the streets newly laid out, he engrafted on this
doubtful stock a multitude of servile and penurious immigrants, whom he
allured from their native haunts by the promise of free residence and
rations.[374] Nevertheless a metropolis constituted from such elements
was scarcely below the level of the times, and was destined to prove a
successful rival of the degenerate Rome which Constantine aspired to
supplant.
The impressions of life and colour which affect a stranger on entering
a new city arise in great part from the costume of its inhabitants. At
Constantinople there prevails in this age a decency in dress foreign
to Rome during the first centuries of the Empire, and even to Greece in
the most classic period. Ladies invested with garments of such tenuity
as to reveal more than they conceal of their physical beauties, to the
confusion of some contemporary Seneca, are not here to be met with in
the streets;[375] the Athenian maiden, with her tunic divided almost
to the hip, or the Spartan virgin displaying her limbs bare to the
middle of the thigh, have no reflection under the piazzas of renascent
Byzantium. A new modesty, born of Christian influences, has cast a
mantle of uniformity over the licence as well as over the simplicity
of the pagan world. In observing the costume of this time a modern eye
would first, perhaps, note the fact that in civil life the garb of men
differs but little from that of women. Loose clothing, which hides
the shape of the body, and in general the whole of the lower limbs,
is common to both sexes. Men usually shave, but a moustache is often
worn; their hair is cropped, but not very close.[376] Head-gear is an
exception, and so, for the lower classes, are coverings for the feet.
A workman, an artisan, or a slave, the latter a numerous class, wears
a simple tunic of undyed wool, short-sleeved, girt round the waist and
reaching to the knees, with probably a hood which can be drawn over
the head as a protection against the weather.[377] This garment is
in fact the foundation dress of all ranks of men, but the rich wear
fine materials, often of silk and of varied hues, have long sleeves,
and use girdles of some costly stuff. They, in addition, are invested
in handsome cloaks reaching to the ankles, which are open for their
whole length on the right side and are secured by a jewelled clasp
over the corresponding shoulder. Shoes often highly ornamented,[378]
and long hose, coloured according to taste, complete the dress of
an ordinary Byzantine gentleman. On less formal occasions a short
sleeveless cloak, fastened at the neck, but open down the front, is
the customary outer vestment. The tunic or gown of women reaches to
the feet, and, in the case of ladies, is embroidered or woven with
designs of various patterns and tints. The latter usually consist of
some small variegated device which is repeated in oblique lines all
over the garment. Shawls, somewhat similar in colour and texture to
the gown, thrown over the back and shoulders or wound round the bust,
are habitually worn at the same time. Gloves, shoes and stockings of
various hues, and a simple form of cap which partly conceals the hair,
are also essential to the attire of a Byzantine lady. As in all ages,
jewellery is much coveted, and women of any social rank are rarely to
be seen without heavy necklaces, earrings of an elaborate spreading
design,[379] and golden girdles.[380] A less numerous class of the
community are male ascetics, celibates of a puritanical cast, who
love to placard themselves by wearing scarlet clothing and binding
their hair with a fillet;[381] also virgins devoted to the service of
the churches, who are known by their sombre dress, black hoods, gray
mantles, and black shoes.[382] Philosophers adopt gray, rhetoricians
crimson, and physicians blue, for the tint of their cloaks.[383] To
these may be added the courtesans who try to usurp the costume of
every grade of women, even that of the sacred sisterhood.[384] Such
is the population who usually crowd the thoroughfares and lend them a
gaudy aspect which is still further heightened by numbers of private
carriages—literally springless carts—bedizened with paint and gilding,
and most fashionable if drawn by a pair of white mules with golden
trappings. Such vehicles are indispensable to the outdoor movements
of matrons of any rank;[385] and in each case a train of eunuchs in
gorgeous liveries, and decked with ornaments of gold, mark the progress
of a great lady.[386] Occasionally we may see the Praefect of the City,
or some other man of signal rank, passing in a silver wagon drawn by
four horses yoked abreast.[387] Often we meet a noble riding a white
horse, his saddle-cloth embroidered in gold; around him a throng of
attendants bearing rods of office with which they rudely scatter all
meaner citizens to make way for their haughty master.[388] A person
of any consequence perambulating the city is followed by at least one
slave bearing a folding seat for incidental rest.[389] In some retired
nook we may encounter a circle of the populace gazing intently at the
performance of a street mountebank; he juggles with cups and goblets;
pipes, dances, and sings a lewd ballad; the bystanders reward him with
a morsel of bread or an obole; he invokes a thousand blessings on their
heads, and departs to resume his display in some other spot.[390]
The Byzantine Emperor and Empress are distinguished in dress from all
their subjects by the privilege of wearing the Imperial purple.[391]
The Emperor is further denoted by his jewelled shoes or slippers of
a bright scarlet colour, a feature in his apparel which is even more
exclusive than his cloak or his crown. The latter symbol of majesty is
a broad black hoop expanding towards the top, bordered above and below
with a row of pearls, thickly studded with gems all round, and bearing
four great pendent pearls which fall in pairs on the nape of the neck.
His ample purple robe, which falls to his feet, is fastened by a costly
shoulder-clasp of precious stones. Its uniformity is diversified by
two squares or tables of cloth of gold embroidered in various colours,
which approach from the back and front the division on the right side.
Purple hose and a white tunic, sleeved to the wrists and girt with a
crimson scarf, complete the civil attire of the Emperor. When sitting
in state he usually bears a globe surmounted by a cross[392] in his
left hand. His attendant nobles, a new order of patricians who are
styled the Fathers of the Emperor,[393] are garbed all in white, but
the tables of their gowns are of plain purple, their girdles are
red, and their shoes are black. His Protectors or guards wear green
tunics, with red facings, and are shod in black with white hose; a
thick ring of gold, joined to a secondary oval one in front, encircles
the neck of each one; they are armed with a long spear, and carry an
oval shield bordered with blue and widely starred from the centre in
black on a red ground. Their Count or Captain is distinguished by a
red and purple breasted tunic, and by the Christian monogram of his
shield in yellow on a green ground. The dress of the Empress is very
similar to that of her consort, but her crown is more imposing, being
heightened by sprays of jewels, and laden with strings of pearls which
fall over her neck and shoulders.[394] Her purple mantle is without
tables, but is brocaded with gold figures around the skirt; she wears
besides an under-skirt embroidered in bright hues, golden slippers
with green hose, and all jewels proper to ladies of the most costly
description.[395] Two or three patricians usually wait on the Empress,
but her Court is chiefly composed of a bevy of noble matrons or maids,
female patricians who act as her tire-women; the leader[396] of these
is distinguished by her purple gown.[397]
Every morning at seven o’clock the Grand Janitor of the Palace,[398]
taking his bunch of keys, proceeds with a company of guards and
Silentiaries to open all the doors which lead from the Augusteum to the
Consistorium. After the lapse of an hour the Primicerius or captain
of the watch knocks at the door of the Emperor’s private apartments.
Surrounded by his eunuchs the prince then sallies forth and first,
standing before an image of Christ in a reverential attitude, recites
a formal prayer. On the completion of this pious office he takes
his seat on the throne and calls for the Logothete[399] or steward
of the royal household. Upon this the Janitor, pushing aside the
variegated curtains which close the door leading to the antechamber,
passes out, and in a short time returns with the desired official.
The Logothete first drops on one knee and adores the majesty of the
Emperor, after which he rises and transaction of business for the day
begins. By this time the antechamber of the Throne room has become
crowded with dignitaries of state, patricians, senators, praefects,
and logothetes of various denominations. The Emperor commands the
presence from time to time of such of these as he wishes to confer
with, and all of them at their first entrance salute him with the
same form of submissive obeisance, except those of patrician rank,
who merely bow profoundly, and are greeted by the Emperor with a
kiss.[400] Codicils or commissions for the appointment of officers
of state or rulers of provinces are presented by the Master of the
Rolls,[401] and the Emperor signs the documents in purple ink, the use
of which is forbidden to subjects.[402] Such codicils are illustrated
in colours with various devices symbolical of the dignity or duties
of the office conferred. Those of praefects and proconsuls of the
highest rank display a draped _abacus_ or table on which rests a framed
image of the Emperor lighted by wax tapers; in addition, busts of the
Emperor with his imperial associates or heirs on a pedestal, and a
silver quadriga—insignia of office, which adorn the local vestibule
or denote the vicegerent of the sovereign in his progress through the
public ways. The provinces or districts are indicated by female figures
or busts labelled with various names; in many instances by rivers,
mountains, indigenous animals, and miniature fortresses representing
the chief towns. In the case of rulers of lesser rank—dukes, vicars,
correctors, counts, presidents—a portly volume inscribed with the
initials of a conventional sentence[403] supplants the painted image.
For Masters of the Forces the codicils are illustrated with weapons
of war or with the numerous designs, geometrical or pictorial, which
distinguish the shields of the cohorts under their command. Dignitaries
of civil rank, financial or secretarial, are suitably denoted on
their diplomas by vessels loaded with coin, purses, writing-cases,
and rolls of manuscript.[404] In addition to those assigning
administrative appointments honorary codicils are also issued, by
which the prerogative or precedence only pertaining to various ranks
is conferred. These documents are also called “nude,” as they are not
illustrated with those figures which indicate that the holder is in
authority over particular districts. They are equivalent to patents of
nobility, and are granted for service to the state, general esteem,
and probably also by mere purchase.[405] Among the throng at the
Emperor’s receptions are always a number of officers of a certain
rank, who, on vacating their posts, have the privilege of waiting on
the Emperor in order to adore or kiss his purple.[406] In the absence
of urgent business the audience closes at ten o’clock; at a sign from
the Emperor the Janitor passes into the antechamber with his keys,
which he agitates noisily as a signal of dismissal. The Palace is then
shut up, but at two o’clock it is reopened with the same formalities
for the further transaction of affairs. At five o’clock it is again
closed and the routine of Imperial reception is at an end for the day.
On the _Dominica_ or Sunday the assembly is most numerous, and the
company repairs in procession to one of the adjoining halls to attend
the performance of a brief divine service.[407] As a concession to the
holiness of this day adoration of the Emperor is less formal. When the
Emperor or Empress drives through the streets the carriage is drawn by
four white horses or mules,[408] the vehicle and the trappings of the
animals being ornate in the highest degree.[409] Public processions
on festal days of the Church are regular and frequent; and on these
occasions, as well as on those of national rejoicing, the Emperor
rides a white horse amidst his train of eunuchs, nobles, and guards.
At such times the Praefect of the City enjoins a special cleansing and
decoration of the streets on the prescribed route. The way is adorned
from end to end with myrtle, rosemary, ivy, box, and flowers of all
kinds which are in bloom at the season. The air is filled with the
odour of incense, and from private windows and balconies particoloured
and embroidered fabrics are suspended by the inhabitants. Wherever
the royal cavalcade passes, cries of “Long live the Emperor” rise
from every throat.[410] At night the thoroughfares are illuminated by
frequent lamps displayed from windows and doorways. But on occasions
of public calamity, such as ruinous earthquakes or prolonged drought,
this scene of splendour is reversed; and the Emperor, on foot and
uncrowned, proceeds amidst the clergy and populace, all clad in sombre
garments, to one of the sacred shrines outside the walls to offer
up supplications for a remission of the scourge.[411] And again the
Emperor may be seen as a humble pedestrian, whilst the Patriarch, who
usually rides upon an ass, is seated in the Imperial carriage, on his
way to the consecration of a new church, or holding on his knees the
relics of some saint prior to their deposition in one of the sacred
edifices.[412]
At this date conventional titles of distinction or adulation have
attained to the stage of full development. The Emperor, in Greek
_Basileus_ or _Autocrator_, the sole Augustus, is also styled Lord
and Master, and is often addressed as “Your Clemency.”[413] His
appointed heir receives the dignity of Caesar and perhaps the title
of _Nobilissimus_, an epithet confined to the nearest associates of
the throne.[414] Below the Imperial eminence and its attachments
the great officers of state are disposed in three ranks, namely,
the _Illustres_, _Spectabiles_, and _Clarissimi_. The Illustrious
dignitaries are termed by the Prince and others “Most Glorious,”
and are variously addressed as “Your Sublimity,” “Magnificence,”
“Eminence,” “Excellence,” “Highness,” “Serenity,” or “Sincerity,”
etc. The two lower ranks are similarly addressed, but only the less
fulsome of such expressions are applied to them. Consonant to the same
scheme the clergy receive the epithets of “Most Holy,” “Blessed,”
“Reverend,” “Beloved of God”; and are addressed as “Your Beatitude,”
“Eminence,” etc., the emphasis being graduated according as they may
happen to be Patriarchs, Archbishops, Metropolitans, Bishops, or simple
clericals.[415]
In the assemblies of the Hippodrome popular fervour reaches its
highest pitch, whether in times of festive or political excitement.
From Daphne, by the gallery of St. Stephen’s and the Cochlea, the
Emperor, surrounded by courtiers and guards, gains his throne in the
Kathisma.[416] On his entry the Protectors, already assembled in the
Stama or Pi, elevate the Standards which have previously been lying
on the ground.[417] Before seating himself on his throne the Emperor,
advancing to the balustrade of the Kathisma, greets the assembled
populace by making the sign of the cross in the air. As soon as the
answering cries of adulation subside, a set hymn[418] is intoned from
each side of the Circus in alternate responsions by particular bodies
of the people called _Demes_, whose importance, not merely agonistic,
but above all political, renders a special account of them here
necessary.
The Demes or factionaries of the Hippodrome occupy the benches at the
end of the arena on each side adjacent to the Kathisma,[419] and are
called the _Veneti_ and _Prasini_, that is, the Blues and Greens.[420]
These bodies, which are legally incorporated as guilds,[421] consist
of the contending parties in the chariot races, and of such others
as elect to enroll themselves as their followers, and to wear the
colours of the respective sides. Each Deme has a subdivision, or
rather, a pendant, to which the colours white and red are attached
respectively.[422] The chief or president of each faction is entitled
the Demarch.[423] These two parties form cabals in the state, who
are animated by a fierce rivalry engendering an intensely factious
disposition. Every consideration is subordinated to a strained sense of
personal or party honour, whence is evolved a generally uncompromising
defiance to the restrictions of law and order. Ties of blood and
friendship are habitually set at naught by the insolent clanship of
these factions; even women, although excluded from the spectacles of
the Circus, are liable to become violent partisans of either colour,
and that in opposition sometimes to the affinities of their own
husbands and families. Nor does the Emperor by an equal distribution
of his favours seek to control the intemperate rivalry of the Demes,
but usually becomes the avowed patron of a particular faction.[424] At
the present time the Greens are in the ascendant, and fill the benches
to the left of the Kathisma, a position of honour assigned to them by
the younger Theodosius.[425] Every town of any magnitude has a Circus
with its Blue and Green factions, and these parties are in sympathetic
correspondence throughout the Empire.[426]
The throng of spectators within the Hippodrome, who can be accommodated
with seats around the arena, amounts to about 40,000, but this number
falls far short of the whole mass of the populace eager to witness
the exhibition. From early dawn men of all ages, even if maimed or
crippled, assault the gates; and when the interior is filled to
repletion the excluded multitude betake themselves to every post of
vantage in the vicinity which overlooks the Circus. Then windows and
roofs of houses, hill-tops and adjacent eminences of all kinds are
seized on by determined pleasure seekers.[427]
Public entertainments are given regularly in the Hippodrome and the
theatre during the first week of January, in celebration of the
Consul being newly installed for the year. They are given also on the
11th of May, the foundation day of the city, and on other occasions
to celebrate some great national event, such as the accession of an
emperor, the fifth or tenth anniversary of his reign,[428] the birth
or nomination of a Caesar or successor to the throne, or the happy
termination of an important war.[429] Several Praetors, officers who
were formerly the chief oracles of the law, are nominated annually,
their judicial functions being now abrogated in favour of organizing
and paying for the amusements of the people.[430]
Twelve chariot races take place in the morning, and, after an interval
of retirement, a similar number in the afternoon;[431] between the
races other exhibitions are introduced, especially fights of men with
lions, tigers, and bears,[432] rope walking,[433] and matches of
boxing and wrestling.[434] In the contests between two- or four-horse
chariots, the competitors make the circuit of the arena seven times,
whence the whole length of the course traversed amounts to about a mile
and a half.[435] The start is made from the top of the Euripus on the
right-hand side, where a rope is stretched across to keep the horses in
line after their exit from the Manganon, until the signal is given by
the dropping of a white cloth or _mappa_.[436] The races are run with
great fury, and the charioteers, standing in their vehicles, make every
effort to win, not merely by speed, but by fouling each other so as to
pass in front or gain the inmost position of the circuit. Hence serious
and fatal accidents are of habitual occurrence, and help to stimulate
the popular frenzy to the highest pitch.[437] The antagonists, however,
pay but little attention to the clamours of the spectators, looking
only to the Emperor’s eye for their meed of approval or censure.[438]
At the conclusion of the games, amid the chanting of various
responsions by the factions and the populace, the victors, supported by
delegates from the four Demes bearing crosses woven from fresh flowers,
wait upon the Emperor in the Kathisma, and receive from his hand the
awards of their prowess.[439]
Less frequently the Circus may be contemplated under a more serious
aspect, as the focus of national agitation. In the year 491, during
Easter week, Constantinople was thrown into a great commotion by a
report that the Emperor Zeno had died somewhat suddenly,[440] and that
no successor had yet been nominated for the throne. The people, the
Demes, and the Imperial guards at once rushed to the Hippodrome, where
all took up the stations allotted to them for viewing the Circensian
games. On all sides an incessant clamour then arose, and the cry,
addressed to those in authority, was vociferously repeated: “Give
an Emperor to the Romans.” Simultaneously the great officers of the
Court, the Senate, and the Patriarch assembled hastily within the
Palace in order to decide on what course to pursue. In this convention
the counsel of the chief eunuch Urbicius, Grand Chamberlain, had most
weight; and, fearing a riot, it was resolved that the Empress Ariadne,
on whose popularity they relied, should proceed immediately to the
Kathisma, and, by a suitable address, attempt to pacify the populace.
On the appearance of the Empress in the Hippodrome, with the retinue
of her supreme rank, the clamours were redoubled. Exclamations arose
from every throat: “Ariadne Augusta, may you be victorious! Lord have
mercy on us! Long live the Augusta! Give an orthodox Emperor to the
Romans, to all the earth!” The widow of Zeno addressed the multitude
at some length, by the mouth of a crier, who read her speech from a
written document. “Every consideration,” said she, “shall be shown to
the majesty of the people. We have referred the matter to the Lords
of the Court, to the Sacred Senate, and to the Heads of the Army; nor
shall the presence of the Holy Patriarch be wanting to render the
election valid. An orthodox Emperor shall be given to you and one of
blameless life. Restrain yourselves for the present and be careful
not to disturb the tranquillity of our choice.” With such promises
and exhortations, often interrupted, Ariadne left the Circus amid the
renewed shouts of the vast assembly. Within the Palace the council was
reformed, and, after some debate, Urbicius carried his proposition
that the election of an Emperor should be referred to the widowed
Empress. Upon this Ariadne put forward a much respected officer of the
Court, the Silentiary Anastasius, a man of about sixty years of age.
Her nominee was about to be accepted unanimously when the Patriarch
interposed his authority and demanded that Anastasius should give him
an engagement to uphold the orthodox faith. The Silentiary was, in
fact, suspected of a strong leaning towards the monophysite heresy,
which declared that Christ was possessed of only one nature.[441] His
proposition was entertained, and thereupon a guard of honour was sent
to summon Anastasius from his house, and to escort him to the Palace;
but before any formal question was put they all set about performing
the obsequies of the deceased Emperor Zeno. The next day Anastasius
presided in the Consistorium to receive the officers of state, all of
whom waited on him clad in white robes. He subscribed the document as
required by the Patriarch, and took an oath to administer the Empire
with a true conscience. He was then conducted to the Hippodrome, where
he appeared in the undress of an emperor, but wearing the red buskins.
Amid the acclamations of the populace he was exalted on a buckler, and
a military officer crowned him with a golden collar removed from his
own person.[442] Anastasius then retired to the antechamber of the
Kathisma to be invested, by the Patriarch himself, with the Imperial
purple, and to have a jewelled crown placed upon his head. Again he
sought the presence of the assembled multitude, whom he addressed
in a set speech which was read out to them by a crier. Finally the
newly-elected Autocrator departed to the Palace amid repeated cries of
“God bless our Christian Emperor! You have lived virtuously, Reign as
you have lived!”[443]
But the proceedings in the Hippodrome were not always merely
pleasurable or peacefully political. The Circus was also the place
where sedition was carried to the culminating point; and the same
Anastasius, in his long reign of twenty-seven years, had to experience
on more than one occasion the fickle humour of the Byzantine populace.
About 498, during the progress of the games, a cry arose that certain
rioters, who had been committed to prison for throwing stones inside
the arena, should be liberated. The Emperor refused, a tumult arose,
and the Imperial guards were ordered to arrest the apparent instigators
of the disorder. Stones were immediately flung at Anastasius himself,
who only escaped injury or death by his precipitate flight from
the Kathisma. The mob then set fire to the wooden benches of the
Hippodrome, and a conflagration ensued, which consumed part of the
Imperial Palace in one direction, and ravaged a large tract of the city
as far as the Forum of Constantine on the other.[444] Again in 512,
when the Emperor, yielding to his heretical tendencies to confound the
persons of the Trinity, proclaimed that in future the Trisagion[445]
should be chanted with the addition “Who wast crucified for us,” the
populace rose in a fury, set fire to the houses of many persons who
were obnoxious to them, decapitated a monk suspected of suggesting
the heresy, and, marching through the streets with his head upon a
pole, demanded that “another Emperor should be given to the Romans.”
Anastasius, affrighted, rushed into the Hippodrome without his crown,
and protested his willingness to abdicate the purple. The spectacle,
however, of their Emperor in such an abject state appeased the excited
throng, and, on the withdrawal of the offensive phrase, peace was
restored to the community.[446]
The Byzantine theatre, in which there are usually diurnal
performances,[447] is by no means a lineal descendant of that of the
Greeks and Romans. The names of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and the rest
of those inimitable playwrights, are either altogether unknown, or
are heard with complete indifference. Pantomime, farce, lewd songs,
and dances in which troops of females[448] virtually dispense with
clothing, monopolize the stage to the exclusion of the classic
drama. Ribaldry and obscenity, set off by spectacular displays,[449]
constitute the essence of the entertainment; and women even go through
the form of bathing in a state of nudity for the delectation of
the audience.[450] A contemporary music-hall, without its enforced
decency, would probably convey to a modern reader the most correct
impression of the stage as maintained in Christian Constantinople.
Actress and prostitute are synonymous terms, and all persons engaged
in the theatrical profession are regarded in the eye of the law as
vile and disreputable.[451] Nevertheless, the pastimes of the public
are jealously protected; and the amorous youth who runs away with
an actress,[452] equally with him who withdraws a favourite horse
from the Circensian games for his private use,[453] is subjected to
a heavy fine. A woman, however, who wishes to reform her life on
the plea of religious conviction, is permitted to quit the stage,
but is not afterwards allowed to relapse into her former life of
turpitude.[454] Should she betray any inclination to do so, it is
enacted that she shall be kept in a place of detention until such time
as the decrepitude of age shall afford an involuntary guarantee of her
chastity.[455] The Byzantine aristocracy, from the rank of Clarissimus
upwards is prohibited from marrying an actress or any woman on a level
with that class.[456]
A particular form of amusement among the Byzantines is the installation
of a Consul every year on the Calends of January in imitation of
the old republican function at Rome. The person nominated assumes a
gorgeous robe decorated with purple stripes and gold embroidery,[457]
grasps a sceptre surmounted with a figure of Victory,[458] and proceeds
in state to the Hippodrome, where he displays his authority by
manumitting a number of slaves specially provided for the purpose.[459]
He presides at the games from the Kathisma, and for the moment, if not
the Emperor himself, as frequently happens, the pretence is made of
regarding him as the sovereign of the Empire.[460] The year is legally
distinguished by his name and that of his colleague of the West,[461]
a series of public spectacles are exhibited for seven days,[462]
he scatters golden coin as largess among the citizens,[463] and
emissaries are dispatched in all directions throughout the provinces
to announce his elevation,[464] and to deposit in the local archives
his diptychs, a pair of ivory plates inscribed with his likeness or
insignia.[465] Immediately afterwards, the office relapses into a
sinecure, and the Consul resumes his ordinary avocations in life.
On Sunday there is a cessation of business and pleasure throughout the
city, though not of agricultural labour in the rural districts.[466]
At the boom of the great _semantron_,[467] a sonorous board suspended
in the porch of each church, and beaten with mallets by a deacon,
the various congregations issue forth to attend their respective
places of worship. In the forecourt they are met by a crowd of
mendicants, exemplifying every degree of poverty and every form of
bodily infirmity, who enjoy a prescriptive right to solicit alms at
this time and place. This practice has, in fact, been encouraged
by the early Fathers of the Church, in order that the heart may be
melted to pity and philanthropy at the sight of so much human misery
as the most fitting preparation for the order of divine service.[468]
The centre of the same inclosure is occupied by a fountain of pure
water, in which it is customary to wash the hands before entering the
sacred edifice.[469] In the narthex or vestibule, in a state of abject
contrition, are found the various penitents, who, for some offence,
have been cut off from the communion of the faithful, condemned to
advance no farther than this part for a term of years proportionate to
the heinousness of their sin.[470] The males of the congregation make
use of the central or Beautiful Gate of the church, in order to gain
their station in the nave, whilst the females, passing through the
doors on each side, ascend to the galleries which are set apart for
their special accommodation.[471] The liturgy consists of reading from
the Scriptures, of prayers, and of hymns sung in responses;[472] after
which the Patriarch, coming forward from his throne in the apse to
the ambo,[473] preaches a homily based on some portion of the Bible.
Finally the Eucharist is administered to the whole congregation, a
spoon being used to give a portion of wine to each person.[474] Ladies,
to attend public worship, bedeck themselves with all their jewels and
finery,[475] whence female thieves, mingling amongst them, often take
the opportunity to reap their harvest.[476] Men, in the most obvious
manner, betray their admiration for the women placed within their
range of vision.[477] The general behaviour of the audience is more
suggestive of a place of amusement than of a holy temple; chattering
and laughter go on continually, especially among the females; and,
as a popular preacher makes his points, dealing didactically or
reprehensively with topics of the day, the whole congregation is from
time to time agitated with polemical murmurs, shaken with laughter,
or bursts into uproarious applause.[478] Contiguous to each church
is a small building called the Baptistery, for the performance of
the ceremonial entailed on those who wish to be received among the
Christian elect. The practice of the period is to subject the body
to complete immersion in pure water, but separate chambers or times
are set apart for the convenience of the two sexes. Here on certain
occasions nude females of all ages and ranks descend by steps into
the baptismal font, whilst the ecclesiastics coldly pronounce the
formulas of the mystic rite,[479] a triumph of superstition[480] over
concupiscence pretended more often perhaps than real.[481]
The luxury of the rich, especially in the use of the precious metals
and ivory, is in this age maintained at the maximum. Practically
all the furniture in the house of a wealthy man, as far at least
as the visible parts are concerned, is constructed of those costly
materials. Gilding or plates of gold or silver are applied to every
available surface—to tables, chairs, footstools, and bedsteads; even
silver night-urns are essential to the comfort of the fastidious
plutocracy.[482] For banqueting the Byzantines make use of a large
semicircular table,[483] on the convex side of which they recline
at meals, still adhering to the custom of the earlier Greeks and
Romans.[484] By this table is set a ponderous gold vase with goblets of
the same metal for mixing and serving out the wine. Rich carpets are
strewn over the mosaic pavement; and troops of servants, either eunuchs
or of barbarian origin, permeate the mansion.[485] These domestics
are costumed and adorned as expensively as are their masters, and in
the largest establishments are retained to the number of one or two
thousand.[486] Like animals they are bought and sold; and, male and
female alike, are as much the property of their owner as his ordinary
goods and chattels; their life is virtually in his hands, but the
growth of humanity under the Empire, and the tenets of Stoicism,[487]
have considerably ameliorated their condition since the time of the
old Republic.[488] In this, as in every other age, the artificial
forms of politeness, which spring up as the inseparable concomitant
of every aspect of civilization, have developed in social circles; and
the various formalities and affectations of manners and speech familiar
to the modern observer as characteristic of the different grades of
society may be noted among the Constantinopolitans.[489]
The Byzantine wife is in possession of complete liberty of action,
and is entirely the mistress in her own household. She is, as a rule,
devoted to enervating luxury and enjoyments, which she gratifies by
extravagance in dress and jewels, by the use of costly unguents and the
artificial tinting of her countenance,[490] and by daily visits to the
public baths and squares for the purpose of display and gossip.[491]
At home she is often a tyrant to her maidservants, and not infrequently
whips them severely with her own hand.[492] Precisely the reverse of
this picture is the condition of the Byzantine maiden in her father’s
house; before her coverture she is persistently immured in the women’s
apartments, and seldom passes the outer door of the dwelling; never
unless under strict surveillance.[493] In most instances, however, her
state of seclusion is not of long duration; for, at the age of fourteen
or fifteen she is considered to be marriageable.[494] She then becomes
an article of traffic in the hands of the professional match-maker, who
is usually an old woman of low social grade, but remarkable for her
tactful and deceptive aptitudes.[495] By her arts a suitable family
alliance is arranged, but unless by a subterfuge, the proposed husband
is not permitted to behold his future wife.[496]
Once a marriage has been decided on,[497] it is considered fitting that
all the innocence of the ingenuous damsel should be put to flight on
the threshold of the wedded state. In the dusk of the evening the bride
is fetched from her home by a torchlight procession to the sound of
pipes and flutes and orgiastic songs. Although women are not allowed
to attend the theatre, on this occasion the theatre is brought to the
houses of the contracting parties; and the installation of a wife takes
place amid a scene of riot and debauchery, of lewdness and obscenity,
which tears the veil from all the secrets of sexual co-habitation.[498]
Mental culture, even in the mansions of wealthy Byzantines, occupies
a very subordinate place. Everywhere may be seen dice and draughts,
but books are usually conspicuous by their absence. Bibliophiles there
are, however, but they merely cherish costly bindings and beautiful
manuscripts, and seldom take the trouble to study their literary
contents. They only value fine parchments dyed in various tints,
especially purple, and handsomely inscribed with letters of gold or
silver; these they delight to have bound in jewelled covers or in
plates of carved ivory, and to preserve them in cabinets, whence they
are drawn out on occasion in order to afford a proof of the taste and
affluence of the owner.[499]
Popular superstitions are extremely rife at this time in the Orient;
a few examples of such may be here given. In choosing a name for
a child it is the practice to light a number of candles, and to
christen them by various names; the candle which burns longest is
then selected to convey its appellation to the infant as an earnest
of long life.[500] Another custom is to take a baby to one of the
public baths and to sign its forehead with some of the sedimental
mud found there as a charm against the evil eye and all the powers
of enchantment.[501] Amulets are commonly worn, hung about the neck,
and of these, miniature copies of the Gospels are in great favour,
especially for the protection of infants.[502] Should a merchant on his
way to business for the day first meet with a sacred virgin, he curses
his luck and anticipates a bad issue to any pending negotiations; on
the contrary, should the first woman he encounters be a prostitute, he
rejoices in the auspicious omen with which his day has opened.[503] At
funerals the old Roman custom of hiring females to act as mourners,
who keep up a discordant wailing and shed tears copiously at will, is
still maintained.[504] Black clothes are worn as a mark of sorrow for
the dead.[505] Great extravagance is often shown in the erection of
handsome sepulchral monuments.[506]
That the capital of the East, and by inference the whole Empire, is
a hotbed of vice and immorality will impress itself on the mind of
the most superficial reader. The dissoluteness of youth is in fact so
appalling that the most sane of fathers resort to the extreme measure
of expelling their sons from home in a penniless state, with the view
that after a term of trial and hardship they may return as reformed
and chastened members to the family circle.[507] Yet to complete
the picture one other sin against morality must be mentioned, which
travels beyond the belief and almost eludes the conception of any
ordinary mind. The incredible perversion of sexual instinct named
paederasty is still more than ever rife in the principal cities of
the East. Idealized by the Greek philosophers,[508] tolerated by the
later Republic,[509] and almost deified[510] under many of the pagan
emperors,[511] it has withstood the pronouncements of Trajan and
Alexander,[512] the diatribes of the Christian Fathers,[513] and even
the laws of Constantius and Valentinian, by which such delinquents are
condemned to be burnt alive.[514] Preaching at Antioch a century before
this time, the earnest and fearless Chrysostom cannot refrain from
expressing his amazement that that metropolis, in its open addiction
to this vice, does not meet with the biblical fate of Sodom and
Gomorrah.[515] Nor is there any evidence to refute the assumption that
Constantinople at the beginning of the sixth century is in this respect
less impure than the Syrian capital.[516]
The Byzantine coinage, which has been recast by Anastasius, consists
of gold, silver, and copper. The standard gold coin, the _aureus_ or
_solidus_, subdivides the pound[517] of gold into seventy-two equal
parts, and is, therefore, to be valued at nearly twelve English
shillings. Halves and thirds of the _aureus_ are regularly minted for
circulation. There is also a silver _solidus_ which weighs nearly
fifteen times as much as that of gold.[518] Twelfths, twenty-fourths,
and forty-eighths of this coin are issued; they are named the
_milliaresion_, the _siliqua_, and the _half-siliqua_ respectively. In
the copper coinage at the head of the list stands the _follis_, two
hundred and ten of which are contained in the _solidus_.[519] Hence
the _milliaresion_ is not much less in value than a shilling, whilst
the _follis_ represents but little more than a halfpenny. Yet the
_follis_ is divided hypothetically into forty _nummia_, but pieces of
five _nummia_ are the smallest coins in actual use,[520] approximately
quarter-farthings, and less even than continental centimes, etc. The
money of old Byzantium was generally figured with a crescent and
a star, or with a dolphin contorted round a trident,[521] but the
Imperial coinage of Constantinople is stamped on the obverse with the
bust of the reigning emperor,[522] and on the reverse, in the case of
gold or silver pieces, with a figure of Victory bearing a cross and
a crown or some similar device. On the reverse of copper coins, with
accompanying crosses and even crescents, we find a large letter—M,
K, I, or E—indicating that they contain 40, 20, 10, or 5 _nummia_
respectively. As specimens of art the coinage of this epoch appears
degraded to the most uncritical eye.[523]
The population of Constantinople in the sixth century is unknown, but
it may be estimated with some approach to accuracy at considerably over
a million of inhabitants.[524] The suburbs also are extremely populous,
and for many miles around the capital, both in Europe and Asia, are
covered with opulent country villas, farmhouses, and innumerable
habitations of meaner residents.[525] In this district are situated
immense reservoirs for water, and many of the valleys are spanned by
imposing aqueducts raised by a double series of lofty arches to a great
height.[526] At a distance of thirty-two miles westwards from the city
is situated the Long Wall, a stupendous bulwark against the inroads of
barbarians, built by Anastasius in 512. It stretches between the Euxine
and Propontis, a range of nearly fifty miles, and forms also a safe and
facile road for those travelling from sea to sea.[527]
The description of manners given in this chapter, although nominally
applied only to Constantinople, may be received as illustrating at this
date the social features of the whole Roman Empire; or, to speak more
accurately, of the Grecian fragment of that empire which once extended
universally over Latins and Greeks.
Before concluding this sociological exposition of the Graeco-Roman
people during the period I am treating of, a brief reference to their
language may be deemed essential to the integrity of the subject.
Viewed from the philological side the aspect of the Byzantines is
peculiar and, perhaps, unique,[528] since to them may fairly be applied
the epithet of a trilingual nation. By the union of the Roman and
Greek factors of the Empire the Latin tongue, as the official means of
expression, became engrafted on the Eastern provinces;[529] and in the
lapse of centuries a third mode of speech, a popular vernacular,[530]
has been evolved, which often has little affinity with the first two.
Sustained by the solid foundations of laws and literature, Latin
and Greek of a more or less classical cast[531] are the requisite
equipment of every one who aims at civil or military employment in
any governmental department,[532] or who even pretends to recognition
as a person of average culture. In the pride of original supremacy we
may perceive that citizens of Latin lineage despise the feeble Greeks
who forfeited nationality and independence, whilst the latter, pluming
themselves on their inheritance of the harmonious tongue in which are
enshrined all the masterpieces of poetry and philosophy, contemn the
uninspired genius of the Romans, whose efforts to create a literature
never soared above imitation and plagiarism.[533]
CHAPTER II
THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER ANASTASIUS: THE INHERITANCE OF JUSTINIAN
That a spirit of dominion was implanted in the breasts of those early
settlers or refugees who rallied around Romulus, when, about 750 B.C.,
he raised his standard on the Palatine hill, is made plain by the
subsequent history of that infant community; and the native daring
which first won wives for a colony of outcasts, foreshadowed the
career of conquest and empire which eventually attached itself to the
Roman name.[534] Contemned, doubtless, and disregarded by their more
reputable neighbours as a band of adventurers with nothing to lose, in
despair of being respected they determined to make themselves feared;
and the original leaven was infused through every further accretion
of population, and was entailed as an inheritance on all succeeding
generations who peopled the expanding city of the Tiber. When their
kings threatened to become despotic they drove them out; when the
patricians attempted to maintain an exclusive control the more numerous
plebs revolted and gradually achieved the establishment of a republic,
in which political honours and aristocracy became synonymous with
the ability to fill, or the energy to gain, a ruling position. They
devoted themselves with enthusiasm to the task of self-government, and
sacrificed their private interests to the welfare of the Republic.
Without history and without science, inflated by ambition within their
narrow sphere, they applied the conception of immortality, which
millenniums would not justify, to being acclaimed in the ephemeral
fervour of the populace or to being remembered for a few decades in the
finite language of poetry and rhetoric.
While the Roman state was in its cradle a citizen and a soldier were
equivalent terms, and every man gave his military service as a free
contribution to the general welfare of the public. But as wars became
frequent and aggressive, and armies were compelled to keep the field
for indefinite periods, a system of payment[535] was introduced in
order to compensate the soldier for the enforced neglect of his family
duties. By the continued growth of the military system, war became a
profession, veteran legions sprang into existence, and generals, whose
rank was virtually permanent, became a power among the troops and a
menace to the state. Finally the transition was made from a republic
governed by a democracy to an empire ruled by the army. In the meantime
the dominion of Rome had been extended on all sides to the great
natural barriers of its position on the hemisphere; to the Atlantic
ocean on the west, to the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euxine on the
north, to the Euphrates on the east, and on the south to the securest
frontier of all, the impassable deserts of Libya and Arabia.
The first emperors affected to rule as civil magistrates and accepted
their appointment from the Senate, but their successors assumed the
purple as the nominees of the troops, and often held it by right of
conquest over less able competitors.[536] Concurrently the Imperial
city had been insensibly undergoing a transformation; by the persistent
influx of strangers of diverse nationalities its ethnical homogeneity
was lost;[537] a new and more populous Rome, in which the traditions of
republican freedom were dissipated, was evolved; and the inhabitants
without a murmur saw themselves deprived of the right to elect their
own magistrates.[538] The laws of the Republic were submitted for
ratification to the citizens, but in the ascent to absolutism the
emperor became the sole legislator of the nation.[539] The elevation
of an emperor seemed at first to be an inalienable privilege of the
metropolis, and the original line of Caesars necessarily descended
from a genuine Roman stock; but in little more than a century the
instability of this law was made plain, and many an able general of
provincial blood was raised to the purple at his place of casual
sojourn.[540] In the sequel, when men of an alien race, who neither
knew nor revered Rome, obtained the first rank, they chose their place
of residence according to some native preference or in view of its
utility as a base for military operations. The simultaneous assumption
of the purple by several candidates in different localities, each at
the head of an army, foreboded the division of the Empire; and after
the second century an avowed sharing of the provinces became the
rule rather than the exception. As each partner resided within his
own territory, Rome gradually became neglected and at last preserved
only a semblance of being the capital of the Empire.[541] But after
Constantine founded a capital of his own choice even this semblance was
lost, and the new Rome on the Bosphorus assumed the highest political
rank. From this event we may mark the beginning of mediaevalism, of
the passing of western Europe under the cloud of the dark ages; and
the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West was achieved by the
barbarians within the following century and a half. In 395 a final
partition of the Empire, naturally halved as it was by the Adriatic
sea, was made; and the incapable sons of Theodosius, Arcadius and
Honorius,[542] were seated as independent sovereigns on thrones in the
East and West. During this period a central administrative energy to
uphold Rome as an Imperial seat was entirely wanting; and a succession
of feeble emperors maintained a mere shadow of authority while their
provinces were being appropriated by the surplus populations of the
north. Italy and south-west Gaul became the prey of East and West
Goths; the valorous Franks under Clovis founded a kingdom which made
itself permanently respected under the name of France; Vandals, with
kindred tribes, gained possession of Spain and even erected a monarchy
in north Africa, which extended beyond the limits of ancient Carthage;
Britain, divested of Roman soldiers in 409, for centuries became the
goal of acquisitive incursions by the maritime hordes who issued from
the adjacent seaboards, Saxons, Angles, and Danes.
In the change from a nominally popular or constitutional monarchy to a
professed despotism, a reconstitution of all subordinate authority was
regarded as a matter of necessity. At first the Empire was administered
in about forty provinces, but under the later scheme of control it was
parcelled out into nearly three times that number. In earlier times
a Roman proconsul in his spacious province was almost an independent
potentate during his term of office,[543] the head alike of the civil
and military power. But in the new dispensation no man was intrusted
with such plenary authority, and each contracted province was ruled by
a purely civil administrator, whilst the local army obeyed a different
master. For further security, each of these in turn was dependent on a
higher civil or military officer, to whom was delegated the collective
control of a number of his subordinates. Again a shift of authority
was made, and the reins of government were delivered into fewer hands,
until, at the head of the system, the source of all power, stood the
Emperor himself. In order to perfect this policy the army itself was
treated in detail on a similar plan; and for the future no homogeneous
body of troops of considerable number was collocated in the hands of a
single leader. A typical Roman legion had previously consisted of about
six thousand foot, seven hundred horse, and of a band of auxiliaries
drawn from foreign or barbarian sources, in all, perhaps, ten thousand
men. Each legion was thus in itself an effective force; and as it
yielded implicit obedience to a single praefect, the loyalty or
venality of a few such officers in respect of their common general had
often sufficed to seat him firmly on the throne. To obviate the risk,
therefore, of revolt, usurpation, or even of covert resistance to the
will of the Emperor, existing legions were broken up into detachments
which were relegated to different stations so as to be dispersed
over a wide area. As a consequence the praefect of the legion could
only exist in name, and that office was soon regarded as obsolete.
Consistently, when new legions had to be enrolled for the exigences of
defence or warfare, their number was limited to about one fifth of the
original amount.[544] To complete the fabric of autocracy all the pomp
and pretensions of Oriental exclusiveness were adopted by Diocletian,
so that henceforward the monarch was only accessible to the subject
under forms of such complexity and abasement as seemed to betoken a
being of more than mortal mould.[545]
Another signal divergence from the simple manners of the first emperors
was the permanent establishment of eunuchs in high offices about the
royal person.[546] The Grand Chamberlain, as the constant attendant
on the privacy of the monarch, generally became his confidant, and
sometimes his master.[547] Ultimately, by habitude, or perhaps with
a feeling for the vicious propensities of the times, the Emperor
developed an almost feminine reserve in relation to the “bearded”
or masculine sex; and in his movements he was guarded by his staff
of eunuchs with as much jealousy as if his virtue were something as
delicate as that of a woman.[548]
Having dismissed these general considerations, I will now attempt to
depict briefly the state of the remaining moiety of the Empire, of the
Eastern provinces, at the beginning of the sixth century. In order to
render my descriptions more compact and intelligible, I shall treat the
subject under three distinct headings, viz., Political, Educational,
and Religious.
I. POLITICAL
The dominions of Anastasius the elder,[549] for there was a later
emperor of that name, corresponded generally to those ruled during the
first quarter of the past century by the Ottoman sultans, who were
the last to conquer them, and who became possessed of the whole in
1461.[550] Proceeding from east to west, the northern boundary of the
Empire followed the coast of the Euxine in its sweep from the mouth of
the Phasis (adjacent to the modern town of Batoum) to the estuaries of
the Danube, as it delimits Asia on the north and Europe on the east,
by the bold curve of its unequal arms. From the latter point, taking
the Danube for its guide, the northern frontier stretched westwards
to its termination on the banks of that river in the neighbourhood
of Sirmium.[551] The western border, descending from thence almost
due south, was directed in part of its course by the river Drina, and
halved nearly vertically the modern principality of Montenegro as it
struck towards the shores of the Adriatic. The coast of Greece, with
its associated islands on this aspect, traced the western outline of
the Empire for the rest of its course, excepting a small portion to
be reached by crossing the Mediterranean to the Syrtis Major, where
at this date the confines of Roman Africa were to be found. In this
vicinity the Egyptian territory began, and the southern frontier
coincided for the most part with the edge of the Libyan desert as it
skirts the fertile lands of the north and east, that is, the Cyrenaica
and the valley of the Nile. An artificial line, cutting that valley
on a level with the first cataract and the Isle of Philae, marked
the southern extension of Egypt as far as claimed by the Byzantine
emperors.[552] From a corresponding point on the opposite shore of
the Red Sea the Asiatic border of their dominions began. Passing
northwards to regain that part of the Euxine from whence we started,
the eastern frontier pursued a long and irregular track, at first
along the margin of the Arabian desert as it verges on the Sinaitic
peninsula, Palestine, and Syria; then crossing the Euphrates it gained
the Tigris, so as to include the northern portion of Mesopotamia.
Finally, returning to the former river, it joined it in its course
along the western limits of Armenia,[553] whence it reached the Phasis
on the return journey, the point from which we set out.[554] Considered
in their greatest length, from the Danube above Sirmium, to Syene on
the Nile, and in their extreme width, from the Tigris in the longitude
of Daras or Nisibis, to the Acroceraunian rocks on the coast of Epirus,
these ample dominions stretch from north to south for nearly eighteen
hundred miles, and from east to west for more than twelve hundred. In
superficial area this tract may be estimated to contain about half
a million of square miles, that is, an amount of surface fully four
times greater than that covered by Great Britain and Ireland.[555] At
the present day it is calculated that these vast regions are peopled by
only about twenty-eight millions of inhabitants,[556] but their modern
state of decay is practically the reverse of their condition in the
sixth century, when they were the flourishing, though already failing,
seat of the highest civilization at that time existing on the earth;
and there is good reason to believe that they were then considerably
more, perhaps even double as, populous.[557]
For the purposes of civil government the Empire was divided into
sixty-four provinces, each of which was placed under an administrator,
who was usually drawn from the profession of the law.[558] These
officers were, as a rule, of nearly equal rank, but in three instances
the exceptional extent and importance of the provinces necessitated the
bestowal of a title more lofty than usual on the governors.
1. The whole of Greece, including Hellas proper and the Peloponnesus,
though now no longer classical, was ruled under the name of Achaia by
a vicegerent, to whom was conceded the almost obsolete dignity of a
proconsul. 2. Similarly, the central maritime division of Asia Minor,
containing the important cities of Smyrna and Ephesus with many others
and grandiosely named “Asia,”[559] was also allowed to confer on its
ruler the title of proconsul. This magistrate had the privilege of
reporting directly to the Emperor without an intermediary, and had
also jurisdiction over the governors of two adjacent provinces, viz.:
the Hellespont, which abutted on the strait of that name, and The
Islands, a term applied collectively to about a score of the Cyclades
and Sporades. 3. The main district of Lower Egypt, adorned by the
magnificent and populous city of Alexandria, the second capital of the
Empire, was placed under an administrator bearing the unique title of
the Augustal Praefect. The sixty-one remaining provinces were intrusted
to governors of practically the same standing; of these, twenty-seven
were called consulars, thirty-one presidents, two correctors, and one
duke, the latter officer being on the southern frontier of Egypt,
apparently in both civil and military charge.[560]
To enumerate severally in this place all the petty provinces of the
Empire would be mere prolixity, but there are a few whose designations
present peculiarities which may save them from being passed over
without notice. The comprehensive names of Europe and Scythia, which
in general suggest such vast expansions of country, were given to
two small portions of Thrace, the first to that which extended up to
the walls of Constantinople, and the second to the north-east corner
which lay between the Danube and the Euxine.[561] With parallel
magniloquence, a limited area adjoining the south-east border of
Palestine was denominated Arabia. The maritime province of Honorias
on the north of Asia Minor, perpetuated the memory of the despicable
Emperor of the West, Honorius. The name of Arcadia awakens us to
reminiscences of Mount Cyllene with Hermes and “universal” Pan,[562] of
Artemis with her train of nymphs heading the chase through the woods of
Erymanthus, or of the historic career of Epaminondas and the foundation
of Megalopolis. But the Arcadia officially recognized in the Eastern
Empire had no higher associations than the feeble son of Theodosius,
brother of the above-named, and we may be surprised to find it in
central Egypt with Oxyrhyncus and Memphis for its chief towns.
By a second disposition of the Empire of an inclusive kind the
provinces were grouped in seven Dioceses, namely: three European,
Dacia,[563] Thrace, and Macedonia; three Asiatic, the Asian, the
Pontic, and the Orient; and one African, Egypt. The first of these
obeys the Praetorian Praefect of Illyricum, the sixth the Count of the
Orient or East, and the last the Augustal Praefect, whilst the rulers
of the remaining four are entitled Vicars.[564] When I add that the
Orient, the most extensive of these divisions, comprised in fifteen
provinces the whole of Palestine and Syria as well as the southern
tract of Asia Minor, from the Tigris to the Mediterranean, and the
island of Cyprus, the limits of the other dioceses may be conjectured
from their names with sufficient accuracy for our present purpose.[565]
By a final partition the dominions of the Byzantine Emperor were
assigned, but very unequally, to two officers of the highest or
Illustrious rank, viz.: the Praetorian Praefects of the East and of
Illyricum. Dacia and Macedonia fell to the rule of the latter, whilst
the remaining five dioceses were consolidated under the control of the
former minister.[566] The Praefect of the East is in general to be
regarded as the subject in closest proximity to the throne, in fact,
the first minister of the crown.[567] The Imperial capital, as being
outside all these subordinate arrangements, was treated as a microcosm
in itself; and with its Court in permanent residence, its bureaus of
central administration, and its special Praefect of Illustrious rank,
may almost be considered as a third of the prime divisions of the
Empire. Here, as a rule, through the long series of Byzantine annals,
by the voice of the populace and the army, or by the intrigues of the
Court, emperors were made or unmade.
The whole Empire was traversed by those narrow, but solidly constructed
roads, the abundant remains of which still attest how thoroughly his
work was done by the Roman engineer.[568] The repair and maintenance of
these public ways was enjoined on the possessors of the lands through
which they passed; and similarly in the case of waterways, the care
of bridges and banks was an onus on the shoulders of the riparian
owners.[569] On all the main roads an elaborate system of public posts
was studiously maintained; and at certain intervals, about the length
of an average day’s journey, _mansions_ or inns were located for the
accommodation of those travelling on the public service.[570] Each
of such stations was equipped with a sufficient number of light and
heavy vehicles, of draught horses and oxen, of pack-horses, sumpter
mules, and asses for the exigences of local transit.[571] Stringent
rules were laid down for the equitable loading of both animals and
carriages, and also for the humane treatment of the former. Thus a span
of four oxen was allowed to draw a load of fifteen hundred pounds,
but the burden of an ordinary pack-horse was limited to thirty.[572]
It was forbidden to beat the animals with heavy or knotted sticks;
they were to be urged onwards by the use only of a sharp whip or rod
fit to “admonish their lagging limbs with a harmless sting.”[573] In
addition to the mansions there were usually four or five intermediate
stations called _mutations_, where a few relays were kept for the
benefit of those speeding on an urgent mission.[574] The abuse of the
public posts was jealously guarded against, and only those bearing
an order from the Emperor or one of the Praetorian Praefects could
command their facilities, and then only to an extent restricted to
their purely official requirements. A Vicar could dispose of a train
of ten horses and thirteen asses on a dozen occasions in the year, in
order to make tours of inspection throughout his diocese; legates from
foreign countries and delegates from provincial centres, journeying to
Constantinople to negotiate a treaty or to lay their grievances before
the Emperor, were provided for according to circumstances.[575] The
highways were constantly permeated by the Imperial couriers bearing
dispatches to or from the capital.[576] These emissaries were also
deputed to act as spies, and to report at head-quarters any suspicious
occurrences they might observe on their route,[577] whence they were
popularly spoken of as “the eyes of the Emperor.”[578] They were known
by their military cloak and belt, their tight trousers,[579] and by
a spray of feathers[580] in their hair to symbolize the swiftness of
their course. One or two were appointed permanently to each province
with the task of scouring the district continually as inspectors of
the public posts.[581] There was also a regular police patrol on the
roads, called Irenarchs, whose duty it was to act as guardians of the
peace.[582]
A Roman emperor of this age, as an admitted despot subjected to no
constitutional restraints, could formulate and promulgate whatever
measures commended themselves to his arbitrary will. But such
authority, however absolute in theory, must always be restricted in
practice by the operation of sociological laws. Although a prince with
a masterful personality might dominate his subordinates to become the
father or the scourge of his country, a feeble monarch would always
be the slave of his great officers of state. Yet even the former
had to stoop to conciliate the people or the army, and a sovereign
usually stood on treacherous ground when attempting to maintain a
balance between the two.[583] The army, as the immediate and effectual
instrument of repression, was generally chosen as the first stay of the
autocracy, and there are few instances of a Byzantine emperor whose
throne was not on more than one occasion cemented with the blood of his
subjects. But many a virtuous prince in his efforts to curb the licence
of the troops lost both his sceptre and his life.[584]
[Illustration: ROMAN EMPIRE _and Vicinity_, c. 500 A.D.]
The Council of the Emperor, besides the three Praefects already
mentioned, consisted of five civil and of an equal number of military
members, all of Illustrious dignity.[585] Their designations were
severally: 1. Praepositus of the Sacred Cubicle, or Grand
Chamberlain, Master of the Offices, Quaestor, Count of the Sacred
Largesses, and Count of the Privy Purse. 2. Five Masters of Horse and
Foot,[586] two at head-quarters,[587] and one each for the Orient,
Thrace, and Illyricum. To these may be added the Archbishop or
Patriarch of Constantinople, always a great power in the State. In
the presence of a variable number of these ministers it was usual for
the Emperor to declare his will, to appeal to their judgment, or to
act on their representations, but the time, place, and circumstances
of meeting were entirely in the discretion of the prince.[588] The
formal sittings of the Council were not held in secret, but before
an audience of such of the Spectabiles as might wish to attend.[589]
The legislation of the Emperor, comprised under the general name of
Constitutions, fell naturally into two classes, viz., laws promulgated
on his own initiative and those issued in response to some petition.
Edicts, Acts, Mandates, Pragmatic Sanctions, and Epistles usually
ranked in the first division; Rescripts in the second.[590] A Rescript
was granted, as a rule, in compliance with an _ex parte_ application,
and might be disregarded by the authority to whom it was addressed
should it appear to have been obtained by false pretences, but the
Court which set it aside did so at its own peril.[591]
The Senate of Constantinople, created in imitation of that of Rome,
was designed by Constantine rather to grace his new capital than to
exercise any of the functions of government.[592] Like the new order of
patricians, the position of Senator was mainly an honorary and not an
executive rank. All the members enjoyed the title of Clarissimus, that
of the third grade of nobility, and assembled under the presidency of
the Praefect of the city.[593] As a body the Senate was treated with
great ostensible consideration by the Emperor, and was never referred
to in the public acts without expressions of the highest esteem, such
as “the Venerable,” “the Most Noble Order,” “amongst whom we reckon
ourselves.”[594] This public parade of their importance, however,
endowed them with a considerable moral power in the popular idea; and
the subscription of the impotent Senate was not seldom demanded by a
prudent monarch to give a wider sanction to his acts of oppression or
cruelty.[595] During an interregnum their voice was usually heard
with attention;[596] and a prince with a weak or failing title to
the throne would naturally cling to them for support.[597] They were
sometimes constituted as a High Court for the trial of criminal cases
of national importance, such as conspiring against the rule or life of
the Emperor.[598] They could pass resolutions to be submitted for the
approval of the crown;[599] they had a share in the nomination of some
of the higher and lower officials; and they performed generally the
duties of a municipal council.[600]
In addition to the Imperial provinces there was also, to facilitate
the work of local government, a subsidiary division of the Empire into
Municipia. Every large town or city, with a tract of the surrounding
country, was formed into a municipal district and placed under the
charge of a local Senate or Curia. The members of a Curia were called
Decurions,[601] and were selected officially to the number of about one
hundred from the more reputable inhabitants of the vicinity. They not
only held office for life, but transmitted it compulsorily to their
heirs, so that the State obtained a perpetual lien on the services of
their descendants. In each Municipium the official of highest rank was
the “Defender of the City,”[602] who was elected to his post for five
years by the independent suffrage of the community. His chief duty was
to defend the interests of his native district against the Imperial
officers who, as aliens to the locality, were assumed to have little
knowledge or concern as to its actual welfare. He became _ex officio_
president of the Curia; and in conjunction with them acted as a judge
of first instance or magistrate in causes of lesser importance.[603]
A provincial governor, generally called the Rector or Ordinary Judge,
held open court at his Praetorium and sat within his chancel every
morning to hear all causes brought before him.[604] His chancellors
guarded the trellis, which fenced off the outer court against the
onrush of eager suitors;[605] within, the advocates delivered their
pleadings, whilst a body of scribes and actuaries took a record in
writing of the whole proceedings.[606] The precincts were crowded with
his apparitors,[607] officers upon whom devolved the duty of executing
the judgements of the court. With the aid of his assessor,[608] a
legal expert well versed in the text of the law, the Rector elaborated
his judgment, a written copy of which he was bound to deliver to each
litigant.[609] But if his decision were asked in cases which seemed
too trivial for his personal attention, he was empowered to hand them
over to a class of petty judges called _pedanei judices_.[610] From the
provincial court an appeal lay to the Vicar of the Diocese, or even
to the Emperor himself,[611] but appellants were severely mulcted if
convicted of merely contentious litigation.[612] At certain seasons the
Rector went on circuit throughout his province to judge causes and to
inspect abuses.[613]
I. The permanent existence of any community in a state of political
cohesion depends on its possession of the means to defray the expenses
of government; and, therefore, the first duty of every primary ruler
or administrative body in chief is to collect a revenue for the
maintenance of a national treasury. The Roman or Byzantine system
of raising money or its equivalent, by means of imposts laid on the
subjects of the Empire, included every conceivable device of taxing
the individual for the benefit of the state. The public were called
on not only to fill the treasury, but were constrained to devote
their resources in kind, their time, and their labour to the needs of
the government. To obtain every requisite without purchase for the
administration was the economical policy of the ruling class. Food
and clothing, arms and horses, commuted to a money payment if the
thing were unattainable, were levied systematically for the use of the
civil and military establishment. The degree of personal liability was
determined by the assessment of property, and those who were possessed
of nothing were made liable for their heads. Social distinctions and
commercial transactions were also taxed under well-defined categories.
A considerable section of the community was, however, legally freed
from the regular imposts. This indulgence was granted especially to the
inhabitants of cities, whose facilities for combination and sedition
were always contemplated with apprehension by the jealous despot. But
immunity from taxation was also extended with some liberality to all
who devoted themselves to art or learning.
1. The financial year began with the first of September, and was
spoken of numerically as an _indiction_, according to its place in a
perpetually recurring series of fifteen. Properly an indiction was
the period of fifteen years[614] which separated each new survey and
revaluation of the private estates throughout the Empire. At the
beginning of such a term the Imperial Censitors or surveyors pervaded
the country districts, registering in their books and on their plans
all the details of the new census.[615] Their record showed the
amount of the possessions of each landowner; the quality of the land;
to what extent it was cultivated or lay waste; in what proportions
it was laid out in vineyards and olive-grounds; in woods, pastures,
and arable land. The number and magnitude of the farm and residential
buildings were carefully noted, and even the geniality of the climate,
and the apparent fecundity of the fruit-bearing trees, which were
separately counted and disposed in classes, exercised the judgement
of the Censitor in furnishing materials for a just estimate as to the
value of an estate. Essential also to the _cataster_, or assessment,
was a list of the flocks and herds possessed by the owner.[616] The
particulars supplied by the Censitor passed into the hands of another
official named a _Peraequator_. He divided the district into “heads” of
property, each computed to be of the value of 1,000 solidi,[617] and
assigned to each landowner his census, that is, the number of heads
for which in future he would be taxed. This assessment was not based
on a mere valuation of the property of each person; it was complicated
by the principle of Byzantine finance that all land should pay to the
Imperial exchequer. It was the duty, therefore, of a Peraequator, to
assign a nominal possession in barren or deserted land to each owner in
fair proportion to his apparent means. Thus the possessor of a valuable
farm was often encumbered with a large increment of worthless ground,
whilst the owner of a poor one might escape such a burthen.[618] Yet a
third official, called an _Inspector_,[619] came upon the scene, but
his services were not always constant or comprehensive. He visited the
province in response to petitions or appeals from dissatisfied owners,
or was sent to solve matters of perplexity.[620] His acquirements were
the same as those of a Peraequator, but, whereas the latter was obliged
to impose a rate on some one for every hide of land, the Inspector
was allowed considerable discretion. After a strict scrutiny he was
empowered to give relief in clear cases of over-assessment, and even to
exclude altogether any tracts of land which could not fairly be imposed
on any of the inhabitants of the district. Before final ratification,
the cataster had to pass under the eyes of the local Curia, the
provincial Rector, and of the Imperial financiers at the capital. The
_polyptica_ or censual books were then closed, and remained immutable
until the next indiction.[621]
2. Appended to the land survey was a register of the labourers, slaves,
and animals employed by the possessors of estates; and upon every
ordinary adult of this caste a poll-tax was imposed.[622] Similarly
with respect to every animal which performed a task, horses, oxen,
mules, and asses for draught purposes, and even dogs.[623] For this
demand the landowner alone was dealt with by the authorities, but he
was entitled to recover from his labourers whatever he paid on account
of themselves or their families. As this capitation was very moderate,
the individual was freed from it by the possession of the smallest
holding, and subjected to the land-tax instead;[624] but the farmer
still paid vicariously for his work-people, even when assessed on
property of their own. Slaves were always, of course, a mere personal
asset of their masters, and incapable of ownership. A sweeping immunity
from poll-tax was conferred on all urban communities,[625] whence
nobles and plutocrats escaped the impost for the hosts of servants they
sometimes maintained at their city mansions; but even in the rural
districts, virgins,[626] widows, certain professional men, and skilled
artizans generally, were exempt.[627]
3. Port or transit dues, called _vectigalia_,[628] were levied on all
merchandise transported from one province to another for the sake of
gain, that is, for resale at a profit; but for purely personal use
residents were permitted to pass a limited quantity of goods free of
tax. In this category may be included licenses for gold-mining, which
cost the venturer about a guinea a year.[629] Taxes of this class were
let out by public auction for a term of three years to those who bid
highest for the concession of collecting them.[630] Export of gold
from the Empire was forbidden, and those who had the opportunity,
were exhorted to use every subterfuge in order to obtain it from the
barbarians.[631]
4. A tax, peculiar in some respects to the Byzantine Empire, was the
_lustral collation_ or _chrysargyron_, a duty of the most comprehensive
character on the profits of all commercial transactions.[632] Trade in
every shape and form was subjected to it, not excepting the earnings
of public prostitutes, beggars, and probably even of catamites.[633]
The _chrysargyron_ was collected every fourth year only, and for this
reason, as it appears, was felt to be a most oppressive tax.[634]
Doubtless the demand was large in proportion to the lapse of time since
the last exaction, and weighed upon those taxed, like a sudden claim
for accumulated arrears. When the time for payment arrived, a wail
went up from all the small traders whose traffic barely sufficed to
keep them in the necessaries of life. To procure the money, parents
frequently, it is said, had to sell their sons into servitude and
their daughters for prostitution.[635] There were limited exemptions
in favour of ministers of the orthodox faith and retired veterans,
who might engage in petty trade; of artists selling their own works;
and of farmers who sold only their own produce.[636] The most popular
and, perhaps, the boldest measure of Anastasius, was the abrogation
of this tax.[637] Fortifying himself with the acquiescence of the
Senate, he proclaimed its abolition, caused all the books and papers
relating to this branch of the revenue to be heaped up in the sphendone
of the Hippodrome, and publicly committed them to the flames.[638] The
chrysargyron was never afterwards reimposed.
5. With some special taxes reaped from dignitaries of state, the
income derived from crown lands and state mines, and with fines,
forfeitures, and heirless patrimonies, the flow of revenue into the
Imperial coffers ceased. From a fiscal point of view there were four
classes of Senators, or to consider more accurately, perhaps, only two:
those who were held to contribute something to the treasury in respect
of their rank, and those who were absolved from paying anything.
Wealthy Senators, possessed of great estates, paid an extraordinary
capitation proportioned to the amount of their property, but lands
merely adjected to fill up the census were exempt under this heading;
those of only moderate means were uniformly indicted for two _folles_,
or purses of silver, about £12 of our money; whilst the poorest class
of all were obliged to a payment of seven _solidi_ only, about £4,
with a recommendation to resign if they felt unequal to this small
demand.[639] Members who enjoyed complete immunity were such as
received the title of Senator in recognition of long, but comparatively
humble, service to the state; amongst these we find certain officers
of the Guards, physicians, professors of the liberal arts, and
others.[640] Not even, however, with their set contributions were the
Senators released from the pecuniary onus of their dignity, for they
were expected to subscribe handsome sums collectively to be presented
to the sovereign on every signal occasion, such as New Year’s day,
lustral anniversaries of his reign, birth of an heir, etc.[641] When
any of the great functionaries of state, during or on vacating office,
were ennobled with the supreme title of patrician, an offering of 100
lb. of gold (£4,000) was considered to be the smallest sum by which he
could fittingly express his gratitude to the Emperor; this accession of
revenue was particularly devoted to the expenses of the aqueducts.[642]
An oblation of two or three horses was also exacted every five years
for the public service from those who acquired honorary codicils of
ex-president or ex-count.[643] Finally a tax, also under the semblance
of a present, was laid on the Decurions of each municipality, who,
in acknowledgement of their public services, were freed from all the
lesser imposts. To this contribution was applied the name of _coronary
gold_, the conception of which arose in earlier times when gold, in
the form of crowns or figures of Victory, was presented to the Senate,
or to the generals of the Republic who had succeeded in subjecting
them, by conquered nations in token of their subservience.[644] These
presentations were enjoined on every plausible occasion of public
rejoicing and the Imperial officials did not forget to remind the local
Curiae of their duty to overlook no opportunity of conveying their
congratulations in a substantial manner to the Emperor. The Imperial
demesnes lay chiefly in Cappadocia, which contained some breadths of
pasture land unequalled in any other part of the Empire.[645] The
province was from the earliest times famous for its horses, which were
considered as equal, though not quite, to the highly-prized Spanish
breeds in the West.[646] Mines for gold, silver, and other valuable
minerals, including marble quarries, were regularly worked by the
Byzantine government in several localities both in Europe and Asia;
but history has furnished us with no precise indications as to the
gains drawn from them.[647] Under the penal code, to send criminals
to work in the mines was classed as one of the severest forms of
punishment.[648]
The _exaction_ of the _annones_ and _tributes_, expressions which
virtually included all the imposts, was the incessant business of the
official class. At the beginning of each financial year the measure
of the precept to be paid by each district was determined in the
office of the Praetorian Praefect, subscribed by the Emperor, and
disseminated through the provinces by means of notices affixed in
the most public places.[649] A grace of four months was conceded and
then the gathering in of the _annones_ or canon of provisions, which
included corn, wine, oil, flesh, and every other necessary for the
support of the army and the free distributions to the urban populace,
began. Delivery was enjoined in three instalments at intervals of
four months,[650] but payments in gold were not enforced until the
end of the year.[651] The _Exactors_, who waited on the tributaries
to urge them to performance, were usually decurions or apparitors of
the Rector.[652] The Imperial constitutions directed with studied
benignity that no ungracious demeanour should be adopted towards the
tax-payers,[653] that no application should be made on Sundays,[654]
that they should not be approached by _opinators_, that is, by soldiers
in charge of the military commissariat,[655] that they should, when
possible, be allowed the privilege of _autopragias_ or voluntary
delivery,[656] and that, if recalcitrant, they should not be sent to
prison or tortured, but allowed their liberty under formal arrest.[657]
Only in the last resource was anything of their substance seized as a
pledge, to be sold “under the spear” if unredeemed,[658] but in general
any valid excuse was accepted and the tributaries were allowed to run
into arrears.[659] Consonantly, however, to the prevailing principle
every effort was made by the Exactors to amass the full precept from
the locality, and those who could pay were convened to make up for
the defaulters.[660] The actual receivers of the canon were named
_Susceptors_, and their usual place of custom was at the mansions or
mutations of the public posts.[661] Scales and measures were regularly
kept at these stations,[662] and on stated occasions a Susceptor was in
attendance accompanied by a _tabularius_, a clerk who was in charge of
the censual register which showed the liability of each person in the
municipality.[663] The _tabularius_ gave a receipt couched in precise
terms to each tributary for the amount of his payment or consignment,
particulars of which he also entered in a book kept permanently for
the purpose.[664] The system of _adaeratio_, or commutation of species
for money, was extensively adopted to obviate difficulties of delivery
in kind; and this was especially the case with respect to clothing or
horses for the army, or when transit was arduous by reason of distance
or rough country.[665] The transport of the annones and tributes to
their destination was a work of some magnitude, and was under the
special supervision of the Vicar of the diocese.[666] Inland the
_bastagarii_, the appointed branch of the public service, effected the
transmission by means of the beasts of burden kept at the mansions of
the Posts;[667] by sea the _navicularii_ performed the same task. The
latter formed a corporation of considerable importance to which they
were addicted as the decurions were to the Curia. Selected from the
seafaring population who possessed ships of sufficient tonnage, their
vessels were chartered for the conveyance of the canon of provisions
as a permanent and compulsory duty.[668] Money payments, in coin or
ingots, went to the capital;[669] provisions to the public granaries
of Constantinople or Alexandria, the two cities endowed with a free
victualling market,[670] or were widely dispersed to various centres
to supply rations for the troops.[671] Besides the ordinary officials
engaged in exaction there were several of higher rank to supervise
their proceedings: _Discussors_, the Greek _logothetes_, who made
expeditions into the provinces from time to time to scrutinize and
audit the accounts;[672] surveyors of taxes, Senators preferably,
whose duties were defined by the term _protostasia_,[673] to whom the
_Susceptors_ were immediately responsible; and lastly _Compulsors_,
officers of the central bureaucracy, _Agentes-in-rebus_, palatines
attached to the treasury, even Protectors, who were sent on special
missions to stimulate the Rectors when the taxes of a province were
coming in badly.[674]
As to the revenue of the Roman Empire at this or at any previous
period, the historian can pronounce no definitive word, but it concerns
us to note here one important fact, viz., that Anastasius during the
twenty-seven years of his reign saved about half a million sterling
per annum, so that at his death he left a surplus in the treasury of
nearly £13,000,000.[675]
II. The political position of the Roman Empire in respect of its
foreign relations presents a remarkable contrast to anything we are
accustomed to conceive of in the case of a modern state. Having
absorbed into its own system everything of civilization which lay
within reach of its arms, there was henceforth no field in which
statesmanship could exert itself by methods of negotiation or
diplomacy in relation to the dwellers beyond its borders. Encompassed
by barbarians, to live by definite treaty on peaceful terms with its
neighbours became outside the range of policy or foresight; and its
position is only comparable to that of some great bulwark founded to
resist the convulsions of nature, which may leave it unassailed for
an indefinite period, or attack it without a moment’s warning with
irresistible violence. The vast territories stretching from the Rhine
and the Danube to the frontiers of China, nearly a quarter of the
circumference of the globe, engendered a teeming population, nomads
for the most part, without fixed abodes, who threatened continually to
overflow their boundaries and bring destruction on every settled state
lying in their path. Among such races the army and the nation were
equivalent terms; the whole people moved together, and inhabited for
the time being whatever lands they had gained by right of conquest.
But their career was brought to a close when they subdued nations much
more numerous than themselves, with fixed habitations and engaged in
the arts of peace; and they then possessed the country as a dominant
minority, which, whilst giving a peculiar tincture to the greater mass,
was gradually assimilated by it. In classical and modern times conquest
usually signifies merely annexation, but in the Middle Ages it implied
actual occupation by the victors. Such was the fate of the Western
Empire, when Italy, Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Britain were dissevered
from each other by various inroads; and those countries at the time
I am writing of are found to be in such a transitional state.[676]
Nor can Thrace and Illyricum, though forming a main portion of the
Eastern Empire, be properly omitted from this list; for, exposed to
barbarian incursions[677] during more than two centuries, they enjoyed
a merely nominal settlement under the Imperial government; and if we
contemplate the Long Wall[678] of Anastasius, at a distance of only
forty miles from the capital, we shall need no further evidence that
the Byzantines exercised no more than a shadow of political supremacy
in these regions.[679] But an exception to the foregoing conditions was
generally experienced by the Romans on their eastern frontier, where
the Parthian or Persian power was often able to meet them with a civil
and military organization equal to their own.[680]
The elaborate scheme for the defence of the Empire against its
restless and reckless foes was brought to perfection under Diocletian
and Constantine. Armies and fleets judiciously posted were always
ready to repel an attack or to carry offensive operations into an
enemy’s country. A chain of muniments guarded the frontiers in every
locality where an assault could be feared. Forts and fortified camps
sufficiently garrisoned lined every barrier, natural or artificial,
at measured distances. Suitable war vessels floated on the great
circumscribing waterways; and where these were deficient their place
was supplied by walls of masonry, by trenches, embankments, and
palisades, or even by heterogeneous obstructions formed of felled trees
with their branches entangled one with the other.[681] Border lands
were granted only to military occupants, who held them by a kind of
feudal tenure in return for their service on the frontier.[682] Every
important station was guarded by from 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers; and
in the Eastern Empire the division of the army to which such duties
were assigned may have amounted to over 200,000 men of all soldiers,
arms,[683] etc. These forces were called the _Limitanei Milites_,
or Border Soldiers, and in each province of the exterior range were
under the command collectively of a Count or Duke.[684] Such were the
stationary forces of the Empire, of whose services the frontiers could
not be depleted should a mobile army be required to meet the exigences
of strategic warfare. Large bodies of troops were, therefore, quartered
in the interior of the country, which could be concentrated in any
particular locality under the immediate disposition of the Masters of
the Forces. This portion of the army was organized in two divisions
to which were given the names of _Palatines_ and _Comitatenses_. The
former, which held the first rank, were stationed in or near the
capital under the two Masters[685] at head-quarters; and, in accordance
with their designation, were identified most nearly with the conception
of defending the Imperial Palace or heart of the state. The latter
were distributed throughout the provinces under the three Masters
whose military rule extended over the East, Thrace, and Illyricum
respectively. The _Palatine_ troops comprised about 50,000 men, the
_Comitatenses_ about 70,000.[686] Cavalry formed a large proportion
of all the forces, and may be estimated at about one third of the
_Limitanei_ and nearly one fourth of the other branches. In addition to
these troops a fourth military class, the highest of all, was formed,
the Imperial Guards already mentioned,[687] viz., the Excubitors,
Protectors, Candidates, and Scholars. The latter body consisted of
seven troops of cavalry, each 500 strong, 3,500 in all.[688] Owing
their position solely to birth or veteran service, the three former
groups were probably much less numerous, but their actual number is
unknown.[689] The usual division of the infantry was the legion of
1,000 men, that of the horse the _vexillatio_ containing 500.[690] The
various bodies of foot soldiers were distinguished by the particular
emblems which were depicted on their brightly painted shields,[691]
but amongst horse and foot alike each separate body was recognizable
by an ensign of special design, for the former a _vexillum_, for
the latter a dragon. The Imperial standard, or that of the general
in chief command, was a purple banner embroidered with gold and of
exceptional size. The _vexilla_ were dependent horizontally from a
cross-bar fixed to the pole or spear by which they were elevated.
Mounted lancers displayed small pennons or streamers near the points
of their weapons,[692] but these were removed as an encumbrance on
the eve of battle.[693] Full armour was worn, in some troops even by
the horses.[694] Besides the weapons adapted for close conflict, much
reliance was placed on missiles, javelins and slings, but especially
bows and arrows in the hands of mounted archers.[695] In replenishing
the ranks great discrimination was exercised; and not only the physical
fitness of the recruit,[696] but the social atmosphere in which he had
sprung up was made the subject of strict inquiry. No slave was accepted
as a soldier,[697] nor any youth whose mind had been debased by menial
employment or by traffic for petty gains in the slums of a city.[698]
The sons of veterans were impressed into the service,[699] and the
landowners had periodically either to provide from their own family or
to pay a computed sum for the purchase of a substitute among such as
were not liable to conscription.[700] Many of the turbulent barbarian
tribes on being subdued were obliged by the articles of a treaty to
pay an annual tribute of their choicest youths to the armies of the
Empire.[701] In addition to the regular forces, barbarian contingents,
called _foederati_,[702] obeying their own leaders, were often bound by
a league to serve under the Imperial government. In Europe the Goths,
in Asia the Saracens, were usually the most important of such allies.
Of the former nation Constantine at one time attached to himself as
many as 40,000, an effort in which he was afterwards emulated by the
great Theodosius.[703] The warships of the period were mostly long, low
galleys impelled by one bank of oars from twenty to thirty in number,
built entirely with a view to swiftness and hence called _dromons_ or
“runners.” The smaller ones were employed on the rivers, the larger for
operations at sea.[704] After a period of service varying from fifteen
to twenty-four years the soldier could retire as a veteran with a
gratuity, a grant of land, and exemption from taxation on a graduated
scale for himself and his family.[705]
Such was the carefully digested scheme of military defence bequeathed
to his successors by Constantine, who doubtless anticipated that he
had granted a lease of endurance to the regenerated Empire for many
centuries to come. But in the course of a hundred and fifty years
this fine system fell gradually to pieces; and by the beginning of
the sixth century no more than a _cento_ of the original fabric can
be discerned in the chronicles of the times. The whole forces were
diminished almost to a moiety of their full complement;[706] the
great peripheral bulwark of the _Limitanei_, scarcely discoverable
on the Illyrian frontier, in other regions was represented by meagre
bodies of one or two hundred men;[707] whilst the _Palatines_ and
_Comitatenses_ betrayed such an altered character that they could
claim merely a nominal existence.[708] The very name of legion,
so identified with Roman conquest, but no longer available in the
deteriorated military organization, became obsolete. In a Byzantine
army at this period three constituents exist officially, but with
little practical distinction. They appear as the _Numeri_,[709] the
_Foederati_, and the _Buccellarii_. 1. The _Numeri_ are the regular
troops of the Empire, horse and foot, enrolled under the direct
command of the Masters of the Forces, but the principle of strict
selection has been virtually abandoned, applicants are accepted
indiscriminately,[710] and even slaves are enlisted and retained under
any plausible pretext.[711] 2. The _Foederati_ now consist of bodies
of mercenaries raised as a private speculation by soldiers of fortune,
with the expectation of obtaining lucrative terms for their services
from the Imperial government.[712] Such regiments were formed without
regard to nationality, and might be composed mainly, or in part,
of subjects of the Empire, or be wholly derived from some tribe of
outer barbarians who offered themselves in a body for hire. On being
engaged, each band received an _optio_ or adjutant, who formed the
connecting link between them and the central authorities, and arranged
all matters relating to their _annones_ and stipend.[713] But the tie
was so loose that even on a foreign expedition they might arbitrarily
dissolve the contract for some trivial reason, and possibly join the
enemy’s forces.[714] 3. The _Buccellarii_[715] are the armed retainers
or satellites of the Byzantine magnates, whether civil or military,
but especially of the latter. Officially they are reckoned among the
_Foederati_,[716] and are obliged to take an oath of allegiance, not
only to their actual chief, but also to the Emperor.[717] Their number
varied according to the rank and wealth of their employers, and in the
case of the Praetorian Praefects, or the Masters of the Forces, might
amount to several thousands.[718] In each company they were divided
into two classes, named respectively the lancers and the shieldmen.
The former were selected men who formed the personal guard of their
leader, the latter the rank and file who were officered by them.[719]
The lancers were invariably cavalry, the shieldmen not necessarily so.
These satellites were recruited preferably amongst the Isaurians,[720]
a hardy race of highlanders, who, though within the Empire, always
maintained a quasi-independence in their mountain fastnesses,
and devoted themselves openly to brigandage.[721] To check their
depredations a military Count was always set over that region, which
thus resembled a frontier rather than an interior province. A fleet of
warships was not kept up systematically at this epoch, but in view of
an expedition, owing to the small size of the vessels, a navy could be
created in a few weeks.[722]
From the foregoing specification it will be perceived that the method
of enrollment constituted the only practical difference between the
three classes of soldiers who marched in the ranks of a Byzantine army.
The maintenance of the Empire rested, therefore, on a heterogeneous
multitude, trained to the profession of arms no doubt, but without the
cohesion of nationality or uniform military discipline.[723] In the
multifarious host the word of command was given in Latin, which Greek
and barbarian alike were taught to understand.[724]
Every student of ancient history is familiar with the methods of
warfare among the Greeks and Romans; with the impenetrable, but
inactive, phalanx which subdued the eastern world; and with the less
solid, but mobile, legion which ultimately succeeded in mastering
it.[725] Such armies consisted mainly of infantry; and the small bodies
of cavalry attached to them, amounting to one tenth, or, perhaps, to
as little as one twentieth part of the whole, were intended merely to
protect the flanks of each division, or to render more effective the
pursuit of a flying enemy. In those times, therefore, the horsemen
were only an auxiliary force, which never engaged in battle as an
independent army. But in the multiple operations against elusive
barbarians in the wide circuit of the Roman Empire, experience made it
evident that the mobility of cavalry was indispensable in order to
deal effectively with such wary and reckless foes.[726] Early in the
fourth century the number and importance of the cavalry had increased
to such an extent that they were relegated to a separate command:
and the Master of the Horse was regarded as of superior rank to his
colleague of the infantry.[727] In the East, however, both branches of
the service were soon combined under a single commander-in-chief; and
henceforward the first military officers are entitled Masters of the
Horse and Foot, or, collectively, of the Forces.[728]
At the period I am writing about, the usual routine of a pitched
battle is to range the infantry in the centre with large squadrons of
cavalry on either flank.[729] Both armies first exhaust their supply of
missiles, after which a general engagement at close quarters ensues.
By the aid of various evolutions, concealed reserves, and unexpected
manœuvres, the opposing generals strive to take each other at a
disadvantage, and victory rests with the most skilful or fortunate
tactician. Single combats in the interspace between the two armies are
not unfrequently initiatory to a battle;[730] and sometimes a campaign
is decided by conflicts of cavalry alone.[731]
The various classes of Imperial guards still exist as a fourth division
of the army, but, owing to the introduction of a system of purchase,
these corps have degenerated into the condition of being mere figures
to be mechanically paraded in the course of state pageantry; soldiers
apparently, and in resplendent uniforms, but unversed in war, who would
sooner buy their release for a large sum than enter on a campaign.[732]
The wars of Anastasius may be reviewed briefly in this section. They
were four in number. 1. At the outset of his reign he found himself
opposed within the capital by a strong faction of turbulent Isaurians,
the relations and adherents of the late Emperor Zeno. Some of these
held high office, and had even aspired to the throne.[733] On their
dismissal and banishment from Constantinople the leaders fled to
Isauria, where they levied large forces, and raised a rebellion by
the aid of arms and treasure which Zeno had seen fit to amass in his
native province.[734] The insurgents kept up hostilities for a long
period with declining success against the Imperial generals, and the
revolt was not fully suppressed till the seventh year (498).[735] In
the fourth year of the war, however, the ringleaders were captured
and decapitated, and their heads were sent to Constantinople, where
they were exhibited to the populace fixed on poles in the suburb of
Sycae.[736] The pacification of the province was achieved by this war
more effectually than on any previous occasion, and the Isaurians do
not again appear in history as refractory subjects of the Empire.[737]
2. In 502 the Persian king, Cavades,[738] applied to Anastasius
for the loan of a large sum of money which he required in order to
cement an alliance with the barbarian nation of the Nephthalites or
White Huns.[739] For politic reasons this loan was refused, and the
exasperated potentate immediately turned his arms against the Empire.
He invaded the western portion of Armenia, which was under Roman
suzerainty,[740] and took one or two towns of minor importance before
an army could be sent against him. The principal feature of this war,
which lasted about four years, was the capture and recovery of Amida,
a strongly fortified city of considerable size, situated in northern
Mesopotamia, on the banks of the Tigris. Although ill-garrisoned,
and neither armed nor provisioned to stand a siege, the inhabitants
received the Persians with the most insulting defiance and made a very
determined resistance for some months. The massive walls withstood the
attacking engines, and all the devices of the besiegers were baffled
by the ingenuity of those within the city. In despair Cavades had
already given orders to raise the siege when the downfall of Amida
was brought about by a very singular circumstance, as related by the
chief historian of the period.[741] In the excess of popular frenzy at
the news of the proposed retreat, the harlots of the town hastened to
the battlements in order to jeer at the Persian monarch as he passed
on his rounds, by making an indecent exposure of their persons. This
obscene conduct so impressed the Magi in attendance that they gave it
a mystical signification, and imparted their opinion to the King that
“everything hidden and secret in Amida would shortly be laid bare.” The
departure was countermanded, and ultimately, through the supineness or
treachery of some monks, to whom the guard of one of the main towers
had been confided, an entry was made. A vengeful massacre of the
vanquished then took place,[742] which was only stayed by the wit of
a suppliant priest, who, in answer to the irate question of Cavades,
“How did you dare to resist me so violently?” replied, “That the city
might be won by your valour and not by our cowardice.” Two years
later, as a result of a protracted but ineffective siege, the Persians
agreed to evacuate the town for a payment of one thousand pounds of
gold (£40,000). On entering, the Romans discovered to their chagrin
that such a state of destitution prevailed as would have compelled the
surrender of the stronghold within a few days. The conclusion of this
war was brought about by an invasion of the Huns,[743] who threatened
Persia from the north; and hence Cavades was glad to make peace for
seven years, on terms which left both parties in the same position as
before the commencement of hostilities. The issue of this conflict was,
on the whole, favourable to Anastasius, who, in the sense of being
the superior power, soon proceeded to infringe the articles of the
treaty by erecting commanding fortresses against his late foes along
his eastern border. Especially as a counterpoise to the impregnable
Nisibis, which had been ceded to the Persians a century and a half
previously by the inept Jovian,[744] he raised the insignificant
village of Daras to the rank of an important town, and surrounded it
with bastions of imposing strength.[745] The impotent protests of the
Persians were disregarded, and the two empires did not again come into
martial collision for more than twenty years.
3. In 505 Anastasius and Theodoric, the Gothic king in Italy, by mutual
inadvertence, as it may be judged, became involved in a conflict.
Simultaneously the Master of the Forces in Illyricum and the Gothic
general Petza were engaged in suppressing their several enemies in
that region.[746] The antagonist of the Byzantine general was Mundo,
a bandit chief of the blood of Attila, who, with a body of Hunnish
marauders, was preying on the country. He, on the point of being
worsted, craved the assistance of Petza, who, seeing in him a natural
ally of kindred race, joined him with his forces. The Goth had, in
fact, just achieved the object of his expedition and probably made
this move in the heat of success. Together they routed the Imperial
army, which was shattered beyond all chance of reparation.[747] To
avenge this defeat, Anastasius in 508 fitted out a naval expedition,
which conveyed a landing force of 8,000 soldiers to the Italian coast.
Making an unforeseen descent on Tarentum, they ravaged the vicinity
with piratical ferocity, and returned as hastily as they came.[748]
Theodoric, however, did not feel equal to pitting himself against the
forces and resources of the East, and decided not to resent these
reprisals. He deprecated the wrath of the Emperor in deferential
language, and these encounters were soon forgotten as merely fortuitous
disturbances of the peace.[749]
4. In 514 the studied economy of Anastasius provoked an upheaval of
the incongruous elements of the state, which threatened the immediate
collapse of his administration. From the hordes of barbarians massed
on the banks of the Danube, troops were continually detached to
take service under the Empire as _Foederati_; and their numbers had
increased to such an extent that the annones due to them became an
intolerable drain on the revenue. A sweeping reduction of these
supplies was, therefore, decreed;[750] a measure judicious in itself,
which would probably have been supported in sullen silence by the
barbarians had not Count Vitalian, a Goth, and their principal leader,
perceived that a specious means of retaliation was to hand. Taking
advantage of the religious intractability of Anastasius, which was
the bane of his rule and had alienated from him most of his pious
subjects, he announced himself as the champion of orthodoxy, and
proclaimed a holy war against the heretical Emperor.[751] The cry was
taken up universally, and, especially within the capital, all the
factious fanatics clamoured for Vitalian as the legitimate occupant
of the throne. An immense host of _Foederati_ followed the standard
of the rebel; a great battle was fought in Thrace, with the result
that the Imperial army was cut to pieces, suffering a loss, it is
said, of more than sixty thousand.[752] A fleet was placed at the
disposal of the pretender, whereupon Vitalian moved on the capital
and blockaded Constantinople by land and sea. Against this attack
the Emperor concerted measures within the city with some Athenian
philosophers, their chemical knowledge was utilized effectively,
galleys which ejected bituminous combustibles were launched against
the hostile ships, and the investing fleet retreated precipitately
amid volumes of fire and smoke.[753] The diplomacy of the almost
nonagenarian monarch during this revolt was marked by much temporizing
and duplicity; he disarmed the _Foederati_ by a liberal donative,[754]
and by raising their captain to the rank of Master of the Forces in
Thrace;[755] he mollified the orthodox ecclesiastics by promises and
prepared instruments for the recall of exiled bishops; and he appealed
to Pope Hormisdas praying that a synod should meet at Heraclea in order
to appease the dissensions of the Church.[756] The synod met after
protracted negotiations, but the combination was already dissolved,
and the head of rebellion was broken; the concessions offered by
the Emperor were presented and found to be illusory, and the futile
assembly separated without any tangible result.[757] Anastasius had
carried his point; active, yet impotent discontent reigned everywhere,
but he had yielded nothing; and soon afterwards, in extreme old age, he
sank into the grave[758] amid the familiar waves of sedition which for
twenty-seven years had raged ineffectually round his throne.[759]
III. The commercial activities of the ancient world, as far as they
come within the vision of history, were almost confined to these
countries which encircle the basin of the Mediterranean; and in the
early centuries of our era the varied regions to be measured between
the Ganges and Gades were conceived to represent approximately the
whole extent of the habitable earth.[760] Although the theory of a
globe was held by advanced geographers and astronomers, the fact had
not been established by circumnavigation and survey; and the idea was
so far from being realized by the masses, that the notion of antipodes
seemed to them to be little less than preposterous.[761] In the
obscurity of prehistoric times the arts and sciences appear to have
originated in the East; and from thence, by the aid of Greece and Rome,
civilization extended until it included almost all the known parts of
Western Africa and Europe. Before the beginning of the sixth century,
however, owing to the incursions and settlements of Goths and Vandals,
those western countries had retrograded nearly to the same level of
barbarism from which they had been rescued formerly by the civilizing
arms of Rome.
In the earliest ages the trade of the Mediterranean was entirely in
the hands of the Semitic race; and from their great ports of Tyre and
Sidon the Phoenicians penetrated with their well-laden ships even as
far as Spain and Britain,[762] disposing of their native manufactures
and imported wares on every coast within their reach.[763] But with
the rise and spread of Hellenic civilization, commerce became more
cosmopolitan; and by the conquests of Alexander the Greeks were made
practically cognizant of a Far East teeming with productions which
could minister to the needs of increasing wealth and luxury. At the
same period, about 330 B.C., the foundation of Alexandria by that
monarch gave them the command of Egypt, and they began to explore the
borders of the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea as far as the Gulf of Aden and
the confines of equatorial Africa. Concomitantly the laborious voyage
of Nearchus,[764] undertaken at the instigation of the Macedonian
conqueror, along inhospitable shores from the mouth of the Indus to
the head of the Persian Gulf, revealed to the Greeks the existence of
a chain of navigable seas by which the treasures of the Indies might
be brought by water to the wharves of the new capital. Through the
establishment of this commerce Alexandria became the greatest trading
centre of the Mediterranean, and distributed its exports to every
civilized community who peopled the extended littoral of that sea.[765]
The first merchants who crossed the Indian ocean, embarking in small
ships of light draught, timidly hugged the shore during their whole
voyage, dipping into every bight for fear of losing sight of land.
But in the reign of Claudius a navigator named Hippalus discovered
the monsoons, and noted their stability as to force and direction
at certain seasons of the year.[766] Thenceforward the merchants,
furnishing themselves with larger vessels,[767] boldly spread their
sails to the wind, ventured into mid-ocean, and made a swift and
continuous passage from the southern coast of Arabia to some chosen
port in the vicinity of Bombay.[768] Such was the southern, and, within
the Christian era, most frequented trade route between the Roman
Empire and the Indies. There were, however, two other avenues, more
ancient, but less safe and less constant, by which merchandise from
the far East, mainly by inland transit, could enter the Empire. By the
first of these, which traversed many barbarous nations, the eastern
shores of the Euxine were brought into communication with northern
India through the Oxus, the Caspian Sea, and the Cyrus. From a bend
in the latter river, the emporium of the trade, the town of Phasis,
was easily attainable.[769] The second, intermediately situated, was
the most direct and facile of the three, but, as it lay through the
Persian dominions, the activity of commerce by this route depended on
the maintenance of peace between the two empires.[770] The Byzantine
government, jealous of the intercourse of its subjects with their
hereditary enemies, fixed Artaxata, Nisibis, and Callinicus[771] as
marts beyond which it was illegal for Roman merchants to advance for
the purposes of trade on this frontier.[772]
In the sixth century the Ethiopian kingdom of Axume,[773] nearly
corresponding with Abyssinia, became the southern centre of
international trade; and its great port of Adule was frequented
by ships and traders from all parts of the East.[774] Ethiopian,
Persian, and Indian merchants scoured the Gangetic Gulf, and, having
loaded their vessels with aloes, cloves, and sandalwood, obtained
at Tranquebar and other ports, returned to Siedeliba or Ceylon[775]
to dispose of their goods. There transhipments were effected, and
sapphires, pearls, and tortoise-shell, the chief exports of that
island, were added to the cargoes of ships westward bound. In the
same market a limited supply of silk was obtained from such Chinese
merchants as were venturesome enough to sail so far.[776] From Ceylon
such vessels voyaged along the Malabar coast between Cape Comorin and
Sindu, near the mouth of the Indus, receiving on board at various
places supplies of cotton and linen fabrics for clothing, copper and
rare woods, together with spices and aromatics, musk, castor, and
especially pepper. In the harbours of that seaboard they also met with
the merchants from Adule, most of whom sailed no farther, and provided
them with the freight for their homeward voyage.[777]
The traders of Axume were not, however, wholly dependent for supplies
on their intercourse with the Indies. Adjacent to their own borders lay
wide tracts of country which were to them a fruitful source of the most
valuable commodities; and with such their ships were laden when outward
bound for the further East. Journeying to the south-east they entered
an extensive but wild region called Barbaria,[778] part of which was
known as the Land of Frankincense, from its peculiar fecundity in that
odoriferous balsam. In this region cinnamon and tortoise-shell were
also obtained; black slaves were purchased from various savage tribes;
elephants were hunted by the natives for food; and ivory was supplied
in greatest quantity to the markets of the world.[779] Every other year
a caravan of several hundred merchants set out from Axume, well armed
and equipped for a distant expedition. For six months continuously they
travelled southward until they had penetrated far into the interior
of the African continent. Gold was the object of their journey, and
they took with them a herd of oxen as well as a quantity of salt and
iron to barter for the precious metal. On arriving at the auriferous
region they slaughtered the oxen and cut up the flesh into joints which
they arranged along with the other objects of trade on the top of a
specially erected barrier formed of thorn bushes. They then retreated
to some distance, upon which the inhabitants, who had been watching
their proceedings, came forward and placed pellets of gold on such lots
as they wished to purchase. On the savages retreating the traders again
advanced and removed or left the gold, according as they accepted or
refused the amount offered. In this way, after various advances and
retreats, bargains were satisfactorily concluded.[780] In the southern
parts of Arabia bordering on the ocean, myrrh and frankincense were
gathered in considerable quantity, whence the country acquired the
epithet of Felix or Happy.[781] The richest source of emeralds lay
in the uncivilized territory between Egypt and Axume, where the mines
were worked by a ferocious tribe of nomads called Blemmyes. From them
the Axumite merchants obtained the gems, which they exported chiefly
to northern India. Amongst the White Huns, the dominant race in that
region, they were esteemed so highly that the traders were enabled
to load their ships with the proceeds of a few of these precious
stones.[782]
Down the Red Sea to Adule resorted the Byzantine merchants, engaged
in the home trade, in great numbers.[783] After loading their vessels
they again sailed northward, a proportion of them to the small island
of Jotabe,[784] situated near the apex of the peninsula of Mount Sinai,
which separated the Elanitic from the Heroopolitan gulf. At a station
there they were awaited by the officials of the excise, who collected
from them a tenth part of the value of their merchandise.[785] Some
of these ships proceeded up the eastern arm of the sea to Elath; the
rest of them chose the western inlet and cast anchor at Clysma.[786]
The wares landed at these ports were intended chiefly for the markets
of Palestine and Syria.[787] By far the greater portion of the fleet,
however, terminated their northward voyage at Berenice,[788] the last
port of Egypt, on the same parallel with Syene. Here they discharged
their cargoes and transferred the goods to the backs of camels, who
bore them swiftly to the emporium of Coptos on the Nile.[789] A crowd
of small boats then received the merchandise and made a rapid transit
down stream to the Canopic arm of the river, from which by canal they
emerged on lake Mareotis,[790] the inland and busiest harbour of
Alexandria. The maritime traffic between the Egyptian capital and all
other parts of the Empire, Constantinople especially, was constant and
extensive, so that commodities could be dispersed from thence in every
direction with the greatest facility.
Within the Eastern Empire itself there were manufactories for the
fabrication of everything essential to the requirements of civilized
life, but production was much restricted by the establishment
universally of a system of monopolies. Several of these were held by
the government, who employed both men and women in the manufacture of
whatever was necessary to the Court and the army.[791] At Adrianople,
Thessalonica, Antioch, Damascus, and other towns, arms and armour were
forged, inlaid with gold when for the use of officers of rank; the
costly purple robes of the Imperial household emanated from Tyre,[792]
where dye-works and a fleet of fishing-boats for collecting the murex
were maintained; these industries were strictly forbidden to the
subject. There were, besides, at Cyzicus[793] and Scythopolis,[794]
official factories for the weaving of cloth and linen. The military
workshops were under the direction of the Master of the Offices, the
arts of peace under that of the Count of the Sacred Largesses. Public
manufacturers or traders were incorporated in a college or guild
controlled by the latter Count, the privileges of which were limited
to some five or six hundred members.[795] Among the staple productions
of the Empire we find that Miletus[796] and Laodicea[797] were famous
for woollen fabrics, Sardes[798] especially for carpets, Cos[799] for
cotton materials, Tyre[800] and Berytus[801] for silks, Attica[802]
and Samos[803] for pottery, Sidon[804] for glass, Cibyra[805] for
chased iron, Thessaly[806] for cabinet furniture, Pergamus[807] for
parchment, and Alexandria[808] for paper. The fields of Elis were
given over to the cultivation of flax, and all the women at Patrae
were engaged in spinning and weaving it.[809] Hierapolis[810] in
Phrygia was noted for its vegetable dyes; and Hierapolis[811] in Syria
was the great rendezvous for the hunters of the desert, who captured
wild animals for the man and beast fights of the public shows. Slave
dealers, held to be an infamous class, infested the verge of the Empire
along the Danube, but at this date Romans and barbarians mutually
enslaved each other.[812] On this frontier, also, consignments of
amber and furs were received from the shores of the Baltic and the Far
North.[813] With respect to articles of diet, almost every district
produced wine, but Lesbian and Pramnian were most esteemed.[814] A wide
tract at Cyrene was reserved for the growth of a savoury pot-herb,
hence called the Land of Silphium.[815] Egypt was the granary of the
whole Orient.[816] Dardania and Dalmatia were rich in cheese,[817]
Rhodes[818] exported raisins and figs, Phoenicia[819] dates, and the
capital itself had a large trade in preserved tunnies.[820]
China was always topographically unknown to the ancients, and about
the sixth century only did they begin to discern clearly that an ocean
existed beyond it.[821] The country was regarded as unapproachable by
the Greek and Roman merchants,[822] but nevertheless became recognized
at a very early period as the source of silk. Fully four hundred years
before the Christian era the cocoons were carried westward, and the art
of unwinding them was discovered by Pamphile of Cos, one of the women
engaged in weaving the diaphanous textiles for which that island was
celebrated.[823] Owing to the comparative vicinity of the Persian and
Chinese frontiers, the silk exported by the Celestial Empire always
tended to accumulate in Persia, so that the merchants of that nation
enjoyed almost a monopoly of the trade.[824] Hence Byzantine commerce
suffered severely during a Persian war, and strenuous efforts would be
made to supply the deficiency of silk by stimulating its importation
along the circuitous routes. Such attempts, however, invariably proved
ineffective[825] until the invention of the compass and the discovery
of the south-east passage opened the navigation of the globe between
the nations of the East and West.
IV. In general condition the Byzantine people exhibit, almost uniformly
in every age, a picture of oppressed humanity, devoid of either
spirit or cohesion to nerve them for a struggle to be free. With
the experience of a thousand years, the wisdom of Roman statesmen
and jurists failed to evolve a political system which could insure
stability to the throne or prosperity to the nation. Seditious in the
cities, abject in the country, ill-disciplined in the camp, unfaithful
in office, the subjects of the Empire never rose in the social scale,
but languished through many centuries to extinction, the common grave
of Grecian culture and Roman prowess.
In the rural districts almost all the inhabitants, except the actual
landowners, were in a state of virtual slavery. The labourers who
tilled the soil were usually attached, with their offspring, to each
particular estate in the condition of slaves or serfs. They could
neither quit the land of their own free will, nor could they be
alienated from it by the owner, but, if the demesne were sold, they
were forced to pass with it to the new master.[826] The position of a
serf was nominally superior to that of a slave, but the distinction
was so little practical that the lawyers of the period were unable
to discriminate the difference.[827] Any freeman who settled in a
neighbourhood to work for hire on an estate lost his liberty and
became a serf bound to the soil, unless he migrated again before the
expiration of thirty years.[828] The use and possession of arms was
interdicted to private persons throughout the Empire, and only such
small knives as were useless for weapons of war were allowed to be
exposed for sale.[829]
In every department of the State the same principle of hereditary
bondage was applied to the lower grades of the service, and even in
some cases to officials of considerable rank. Here, however, a release
was conceded to those who could provide an acceptable substitute, a
condition but rarely possible to fulfil.[830] Armourers, mintmen,
weavers, dyers, purple-gatherers, miners, and muleteers, in government
employ[831] could neither resign their posts nor even intermarry[832]
with associates on a different staff, or the general public, unless
under restrictions which were almost prohibitive. Within the same
category were ruled the masters or owners of freight-ships,[833]
chartered to convey the annones and tributes, of which the Alexandrian
corn-fleet[834] constituted the main section. Those addicted to this
vocation in the public interest were necessarily men of some private
means, as they were obliged to build and maintain the vessels at their
own expense; but they were rewarded by liberal allowances, and were
almost exempt in respect of the laws affecting the persons and property
of ordinary citizens. The lot of this class of the community appears to
have been tolerable, and was even, perhaps, desirable,[835] but that
of the Decurions, the members of the local senates, was absolutely
unbearable.[836] In relation to their fellow townsmen their duties
do not seem to have been onerous, but as collectors of the revenue
they were made responsible for the full precept levied four-monthly
on each district, and had to make good any deficiency from their own
resources.[837] As natives of the locality to which their activities
were constrained, their intimate knowledge of the inhabitants was
invaluable to the government in its inquisitorial and compulsive
efforts to gather in the imposts; and, subordinated to the Imperial
officials resident in, or on special missions to, the provinces, they
became consequently the prime object of their assaults when dealing
with the defaulting tributaries. In view of such hardships, municipal
dignities and immunities were illusory; and, as the local senates were
very numerous, there were few families among the middle classes, from
whom those bodies were regularly replenished, whose members did not
live in dread of a hereditary obligation to become a Decurion. In every
ordinary sphere of exertion, not excepting the Court, the Church, or
the army, men, long embarked on their career, were liable to receive
a mandate enjoining them to return to their native town or village
in order to spend the rest of their lives in the management of local
affairs.[838] Occupation of the highest offices of State, or many
years’ service in some official post, could alone free them from the
municipal bond.[839]
Life under accustomed conditions, though with restricted liberty,
may be supportable or even pleasant, but the Byzantine subject could
seldom realize the extent of his obligations or foresee to what
exactions he might have to submit. He might review with satisfaction
a series of admirable laws which seemed to promise him tranquillity
and freedom from oppression, but experience soon taught him that
it was against the interest of the authorities to administer them
with equity. By an ineradicable tradition, dating from the first
centuries of the expansion of the Empire, it was presumed that the
control of a province offered a fair field to a placeman for enriching
himself.[840] Hence the prevalence of a universal corruption and a
guilty collusion between the Rector and all the lesser officials,
who afforded him essential aid in his devices for despoiling the
provincials.[841] While the fisc never scrupled to aggravate the
prescribed imposts by superindictions,[842] its agents were insatiate
in their efforts at harvesting for themselves. The tyranny of the
first emperors was local and transient, but under the rule of the
Byzantine princes the vitals of the whole Empire were persistently
sapped. In the _adaeratio_ of the annones a value was set upon the
produce far above the market price;[843] taxes paid were redemanded,
and receipts in proper form repudiated because the _tabellio_ who
had signed them, purposely removed, was not present to acknowledge
his signature;[844] unexpected local rates were levied, to which
the assent of the Decurions was forced, with the avowed object of
executing public works which were never undertaken;[845] sales of
property at a vile estimate were pressed on owners who dared not
provoke the officials by a refusal;[846] decisions in the law courts
were ruled by bribery, and suitors were overawed into not appealing
against unjust judgements;[847] forfeitures of estates to the crown
were proclaimed under pretence of lapse of ownership or questionable
right of inheritance, and their release had to be negotiated for
the payment of a sufficient ransom;[848] even special grants from
the Imperial treasury for reinstatement of fortifications or other
purposes were sometimes embezzled without apprehension of more serious
trouble, if detected, than disgorgement.[849] In all these cases the
excess extorted was appropriated by the rapacious officials. Such
were the hardships inflicted systematically on the small proprietors
who, if unable to pay or considered to be recalcitrant, were not
seldom subjected to bodily tortures. For hours together they were
suspended by the thumbs,[850] or had to undergo the application of
finger-crushers or foot-racks,[851] or were beaten on the nape of
the neck with cords loaded with lead.[852] Nevertheless, remainders
accumulated constantly, and a remission of hopeless arrears for a
decade or more was often made the instance of Imperial indulgence.
But the old vouchers were habitually secreted and preserved by the
collectors so that the ignorant rustics might be harassed persistently
for debts which they no longer owed.[853] The existence of such
frauds was patent even to the exalted perceptions of the Court; and
hence Anastasius, in order to render his abolition of the chrysargyron
effective, resorted to an artifice which appealed to the avarice of
his financial delegates throughout the country.[854] But an emperor,
however well-intentioned, could rarely attempt to lighten the burdens
of even the humblest of his subjects. His immediate ministers had sold
the chief posts in the provinces[855] and were under a tacit convention
to shield their nominees unless in the case of some rash and flagrant
delinquent who abandoned all discretion. The public good was ignored
in practice; to keep the treasury full was the simple and narrow
policy of the Byzantine financier, who never fostered any enlightened
measure for making the Empire rich.[856] Zeno essayed to remedy the
widespread evil of venality, but his effort was futile; although his
constitution was re-enacted more than once and permanently adorned
the statute-book.[857] According to this legislator every governor
was bound to abide within his province in some public and accessible
place for fifty days after the expiration of his term of office. Thus
detained within the reach of his late constituents when divested of his
authority, it was hoped that they would be emboldened to come forward
and call him to account for his misdeeds. The reiteration of the law at
no great intervals of time sufficiently proves that it was promulgated
only to be disregarded.[858]
Without legitimate protectors from whom they might seek redress, the
wretched tributaries either tried to match their oppressors in craft,
or yielded abjectly to all their demands. Some parted with whatever
they possessed, and finally sold their sons and daughters into slavery
or prostitution;[859] others posted their holdings against the visits
of the surveyors with notices designating them as the property of
some influential neighbour.[860] Such local magnates, who maintained,
perhaps, a guard of Isaurian bandits, were wont to bid defiance
to the law as well as to the lawlessness of the Rector and his
satellites.[861] To their protection, in many instances, the lesser
owners were impelled to consign themselves unconditionally, hoping to
find with them a haven of refuge against merciless exaction. The patron
implored readily accepted the trust, but the suppliant soon discovered
that his condition was assimilated to that of a serf.[862] The web of
social order was strained or ruptured in every grade of life; traders
joined the ranks of the clergy in order to abuse the facilities for
commerce conceded to ministers of religion;[863] the proceedings of
the Irenarchs among the rustic population were so vexatious, that they
were accounted disturbers, instead of guardians of the peace,[864] and
the simple pastor had to be denied the use of a horse, lest it should
enable him to rob with too much security on the public highways.[865]
II. EDUCATIONAL
Superstition flourishes because knowledge is still the luxury of the
few. By education alone can we hope to attain to the extinction of that
phase of mind termed belief, or faith, which has always been inculcated
as a virtue or a duty by the priest, and condemned as a vice of the
intellect by the philosopher. In every age, the ability to discern
the lines of demarcation which separate the known from the unknown is
the initial stage of advancement; and in the training of youth, the
prime object of the educator should be to confer this power on every
individual; for in the uninformed minds of a great majority of mankind,
fact and fancy are for the most part inextricably entangled. The
efforts of authority to dispel or perpetuate error are most potent when
acting on the impressionable faculties of early life. In a sane and
progressive world the first conception to be engrafted in the expanding
mind should be that knowledge has no foothold beyond the causeways
pushed by science into the ocean of the unknown.[866]
I do not design to produce under this heading a lengthy disquisition
on paedagogics among the Byzantines, but merely to indicate, by some
broad lines, upon what stock of common knowledge the foundations of
civilization rested in this age. The student of early Roman history
will scarcely need to be reminded that the virtues of the Republic
were not derived from the schools of art or philosophy; or that the
aesthetic tastes of those blunt citizens only developed in proportion
as they found themselves lords over the culture as well as over the
country of the Greeks.[867] Towards the middle of the second century
B.C., Greek professors of literature and eloquence began to establish
themselves at Rome, where they held their ground for some decades on
a very precarious footing, owing to the strong disfavour with which
they were regarded by those who considered the preservation of ancient
manners as the salvation of the state.[868] Gradually, however, the
new discipline prevailed; eminent teachers were accorded recognition
by the government, and before the end of the first century A.D., the
privilege of maintaining at the public expense a faculty of professors
to impart higher instruction to the rising generation, was granted to
every town of any magnitude throughout the Empire.[869] To facilitate,
therefore, the prosecution of _liberal studies_, for such they were
officially named, suitable buildings were erected in every populous
centre. Architecturally, a state school comprised a handsome hall or
lecture theatre, with class-rooms attached, the whole being surrounded
essentially by a portico.[870] The extent and decorative elaboration
of these edifices depended doubtless on their local or general
importance. The greater institutions, as denoted by their being the
resort of a large concourse of students, were liberally provided with
the adornments of painting and statuary.[871] Objective instruction
was given by means of tabular expositions of the subjects taught
affixed to the walls of the colonnades, among which maps conveying not
only geographical, but also historical information, were particularly
conspicuous.[872] Until the barbarian invasion of Greece by Alaric at
the close of the fourth century, Athens maintained an easy pre-eminence
as a centre of polite learning, and bestowed the greatest prestige
on those who passed through her schools.[873] The most pronounced
effort for the advancement of higher education in the East at this
epoch was the definite constitution of the schools of Constantinople
in an Auditorum on the Capitol, almost as the counterpart of a
modern University, by Theodosius II, in 425. The teaching staff of
this college consisted, under their official titles, of three Orators
and ten Grammarians for the Latin language; of five Sophists and ten
Grammarians for the Greek tongue; of one Philosopher; and of two
Jurists, thirty-one members in all.[874] To insure the success of
this foundation, the decree for its establishment was accompanied
by an injunction against the public lecturing of professors other
than those appointed to hold forth within its walls.[875] A body of
scriveners, technically named antiquarians, was also maintained for the
multiplication of copies of manuscripts in the public libraries of the
capital, which were rich in literature.[876]
In addition to these teachers, who were settled in various localities,
the itinerant professor, who travelled from place to place delivering
public harangues and taking pupils for a short course of instruction,
was a feature in the life of the period. With considerable vanity
they distinguished themselves by wearing a long beard, carrying a
staff, and enfolding themselves in a cloak of an unusual tint.[877]
Rhetoricians affected a garb of scarlet or white, philosophers of gray,
and physicians of blue.[878] When addressing an audience, they usually
presented themselves crowned with flowers, reeking with perfumes, and
displaying a gold ring of remarkable size.[879] The advent of these
self-ordained instructors of the public into a provincial town was
often the occasion of much local enthusiasm, and a throng of citizens
advanced to meet them for some distance, in order to conduct them to
their lodgings.[880] All professors, whether in the pay of the state
or otherwise, enjoyed a complete immunity from the civil duties and
imposts enforced on ordinary individuals, thus presenting the singular
contrast of being licensed to live in a condition of ideal freedom
under a political system which restricted personal liberty at every
turn.[881] Such material advantages inevitably became liable to abuse
through imposture, and the country was permeated by charlatans in
the guise of philosophers, who coveted distinction and emolument at
the easy price of a merely personal assertion of competence.[882]
In the fourth century this evil was scarcely checked by Imperial
enactments which required that professors of every grade should
procure credentials as to character and attainments from the Curia of
their native place.[883] The cost of education is a somewhat obscure
subject, but we are justified in assuming that all the state seminaries
were open gratuitously to the youth of the district; and we know that
even private teachers of eminence were accustomed to remit the fees to
students who were unable to pay.[884]
The ancients, like the moderns, assigned certain courses of instruction
to pupils according to their age and the estimated development of their
intelligence. As with us, the recipient of a full liberal education
passed through three stages, adapted respectively to the capacity
of the child, the boy, and the youth, which may be discussed under
the headings of Elementary, Intermediate, and Final. To these must
necessarily be added, in the case of those destined for a special
vocation, a fourth stage, viz., the Professional. Their conception,
however, of the periods of early life was more defined, and differed
somewhat from our own, the first terminating at twelve, the second at
fourteen, the third at twenty, and the fourth at twenty-five years of
age.[885] Primary education began at from five to seven, and the pupils
were usually sent to a day-school in the charge of a slave, named a
paedagogue. There they were taught to read, write, and to count; and
suitable pieces were given to them to learn by rote. A wooden tablet
faced with wax, upon which they scratched with a style, took the
place of the modern slate or copy-book. Calculation was restricted to
some simple operations of mental arithmetic, owing to the cumbersome
method of figuring employed by the ancients, which did not lend itself
easily to the manipulation of written numbers.[886] The schoolmasters
who presided over such preparatory establishments did not rank as
professors, and were not accorded any privileges beyond those of
ordinary citizens.[887]
II. At twelve the work of mental cultivation commenced seriously, and
the pupil entered on the study of the _seven liberal arts_, viz.,
grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and
music.[888] These subjects were taken in two stages, which in the
West were beginning to be called the _Trivium_ and _Quadrivium_.[889]
Two years were devoted to the _Trivium_, the scope of which may
be apprehended from a brief summary. 1. The grammar of the period
dealt with the eight parts of speech in a sufficiently exhaustive
manner; conveyed some notions, often crude and erroneous, as to the
derivation of words; and, in the absence of precise anatomical or
acoustic science, attempted in a primitive fashion a classification
of the letters and a physiology of vocalization. The construction of
sentences was analyzed with considerable minuteness; and passages
selected from eminent writers were set for the student to parse with
an exactitude seldom called for at the present day.[890] The laws of
poetical metre were taught as a leading branch of the subject; and a
familiarity with literature was promoted by reading the best authors,
especially Homer.[891] The copious Latin grammarian Priscian flourished
at Constantinople under Anastasius, and his monumental work in eighteen
books is still extant.[892]
2. In the province of dialectics it was sought to instill the art of
reasoning correctly into the mind of the pupil. Thus he was introduced
to the elementary principles of logic; the categories, or the modes
of regarding and classifying phenomena, were explained to him; and he
was exercised in the practice of accurate deduction according to the
various forms of the syllogism.
3. Without a practical acquaintance with the art of rhetoric it was
considered that no one could pretend to occupy any desirable position
in the civil service of the Empire.[893] This course was the extension
and application of the two previous ones of grammar and logic, upon
which it was based. The rules of composition and the arts of argument,
which the ingenuity of the Greeks had unravelled and defined under a
hundred apposite names, were exemplified to the student,[894] who
wrote extracts to dictation chosen from various illustrative authors.
The sophist or rhetorician addressed his class on some stated theme,
and spoke alternately on both sides of the question. The management
of the voice and the use of appropriate gesture were systematically
taught.[895] Finally the pupils were set to compose speeches of their
own and to debate among themselves on suitable subjects.[896]
III. The four divisions of the _Quadrivium_ were grouped together as
the mathematical arts; and six years were allotted to their study. 1.
In geometry the discipline did not include the learning of theorems
and problems as set forth in the Elements of Euclid, but merely an
acquaintance with the definitions and with the ordinary plane and solid
figures.[897] The teaching in this section, however, was mainly of
geography.[898] It was asserted doubtfully that the earth was a globe
and that there was an inferior hemisphere of which nothing certain
could be predicated.[899]
2. Arithmetic was not practised methodically by the setting of sums to
be worked out by the pupils, but consisted chiefly in demonstrating
the more obvious properties of numbers, such as odd, even, prime,
perfect, etc., together with many fanciful absurdities.[900] Operations
with figures were indicated verbally in a disconnected manner;
multiplication tables to be learnt by heart had not been invented; the
higher rules and decimal fractions were unknown.
3. Systematic astronomy at this period and for long after, as is well
known, was conceived of on false principles which, whilst admitting
of the correct solution of some problems, such as the prediction
of eclipses, left the vastness of the universe and its physical
constitution totally unapprehended. All the heavenly bodies were
regarded as mathematically, if not teleologically disposed about the
earth, to which as a centre even the fixed stars, at varying and
immeasurable distances as they are, were constrained fantastically
by a revolving sphere of crystal.[901] The reasoning, however, by
which these views were upheld was not sufficiently convincing to gain
universal acceptance; and the outlines of the science communicated
to students generally received some modifications from the minds
of individual teachers.[902] Much of the course was taken up with
treating of the constellations and the zodiac, not without a tincture
of astrology, and some primitive observations on meteorology were
included.[903]
4. Music as known to us is virtually a modern creation; and that of the
Greeks would doubtless impress us as a wild and disorderly performance,
adapted only to the ears of some semi-barbaric people of the East.
Their most extended scale did not range beyond eighteen notes;[904]
in order to obtain variety their only resource was a shift of key,
that is, a change of pitch, or the adoption of a different mode,
that is, of a gamut in which the semitones assumed novel positions;
and their harmony was restricted to the consonance of octaves. Time
was not measured according to the modern method, but there was a
rhythm fixed in relation to the various metres of poetic verse. Their
usual instruments were the pipe or flute, the lyre, a simple form of
organ,[905] and, of course, the human voice. Practically, therefore,
their music consisted of melody of a declamatory or recitatival type,
to which a peculiar character was sometimes given by the use of quarter
tones; and choral singing was purely symphonic. But the vibrational
numbers of the scale had been discovered by Pythagoras when making
experiments with strings; and each of the eighteen notes and fifteen
modes had received a descriptive name. Hence the limited scope of
the art did not prevent the theory of music from ultimately becoming
elaborated with a complexity not unworthy of the native subtlety of the
Greeks.[906] In practice the musical training of pupils consisted in
their learning to sing to the lyre.[907]
Such in brief were the component parts of a liberal education, with
which, however, under the name of philosophy, it was considered
essential that a complement of ethical teaching should be conjoined.
This complement was digested into three branches, under which were
discussed the duty of the individual to himself, to the household, and
to the community at large or to the state.[908]
IV. It now remains for us to glance at the more protracted training of
those who had resolved to devote their lives to some particular sphere
of activity. Aspirants for the position of professor of the liberal
arts, or who wished to utilize their acquirements in a political
career, would continue and extend their studies on the lines above
indicated; but those who intended to follow the professions of law
or physic, or engage in practice of art proper, had to direct their
energies into new channels.
1. As the administration of the Empire was almost monopolized by the
members of the legal profession, it may be inferred that the throng of
youths intent on becoming lawyers fully equalled in number the students
of every other calling. Hence we find that not only were schools of
law established in every city of importance, notably Constantinople,
Alexandria, and Caesarea, but that a provincial town of minor rank
obtained a unique celebrity through the teaching of jurisprudence.
Berytus, on the Syrian coast, in the province of Phoenicia, with an
academic history of several centuries[909] at this date, had attained
to that position; and was habitually spoken of as the “mother”
and “nurse of the laws.”[910] Four jurists of eminence, double the
number allotted to any other school, under the title of Antecessors,
lectured in the auditorium;[911] and a progressive course of study
was arranged to extend over five years. In each successive year the
candidate assumed a distinctive designation which marked his seniority
or denoted the branch of law on which he was engaged.[912] Before
the sixth century the legal archives of the Empire had been swollen
to such proportions that it had become an almost impossible task to
thread the maze of their innumerable enactments. During the lapse of a
thousand years the constitutions of the emperors had been engrafted on
the legislation of the Republic, and the complexity of the resultant
growth was capable of bewildering the most acute of legal minds. On
three occasions, beginning from the time of Constantine, attempts had
been made to separate and classify the effective laws;[913] and the
Code of Theodosius II, published in 438, the only official one, was
at present in force. But this work, executed in a narrow spirit of
piety which decreed that only the enactments of Christian emperors
should be included, was universally recognized as both redundant and
insufficient. A still wider entanglement existed in the literature
which had accumulated around the interpretation and application of the
statutes; during the administration of justice a myriad of perplexing
points had arisen to exercise the keenest forensic judgement in order
to arrive at equitable decisions; and it was estimated that two
thousand treatises, emanating from nearly forty authors, contained in
scattered passages matter essential to a correct apprehension of the
principles and practice of the law.[914] Such was the arduous prospect
before a legal student who desired to win a position of repute in his
profession.[915]
2. As Berytus had become famous for its law school, so Alexandria,
and even some centuries earlier, had gained a noted pre-eminence as a
centre of medical education;[916] but with respect to the course of
study and the methods of instruction no details have come down to
us. We have seen that the regulations for the establishment of the
auditorium at Constantinople did not provide for a chair of physic,
whence it may be inferred that it was left entirely to those who had
attained to the position of senior or arch-physician to organize
the teaching and training of pupils. The public medical officers,
who attended the poor at their own homes or in the _nosocomia_ or
hospitals existing at this date,[917] would doubtless have excellent
opportunities for forming classes and rendering students familiar
with the aspect and treatment of disease. The medical and surgical
science of antiquity had come to a standstill by the end of the second
century, when the indefatigable Galen composed his great repertory
of the knowledge of his own times. That knowledge comprised almost
all the details of macroscopic anatomy, but had advanced but a little
way towards solving the physiological problems as to the working of
the vital machine. The gross absurdities of the preceding centuries
had, however, been finally disposed of, such as that fluids passed
down the windpipe into the lungs,[918] or that the arteries contained
air.[919] Ordinary operations were performed freely; and the surgeon
was conscious that it was more creditable to save a limb than to
amputate it.[920] Three centuries before the Christian era Theophrastus
had laid the foundations of systematic botany, as had his master
Aristotle those of zoology and comparative anatomy.[921] The resources
of therapeutics were extensive and varied, but the action of drugs
was not well understood. Remedies were compounded not only from the
vegetable kingdom, but also with animal substances[922] to an extent
which seems likely to be equalled by the more precise medication with
the principles of living tissues gaining ground at the present day.
Knowledge of minerals, however, was too deficient for such bodies to
take a prominent place in pharmacology.[923]
3. The arts of Greece, after having flourished in perfection from the
time of Pericles to that of Alexander in the various departments of
architecture, sculpture, painting, and literature, remained dormant for
some centuries until the establishment of universal peace under the
dominion of Rome provided a new theatre for their exercise. Fostered
in the Augustan age by the indolence and luxury of the Imperial city,
which offered the prospect of fortune to every artist of ambition and
talent, they were communicated to the Latins, who strove earnestly
to imitate and equal their masters. The exotic art bloomed on the
foreign soil to which it had been transplanted; and the Italians, if
they never displayed creative genius or originality of conception,
at least learned to reproduce with consummate skill and novelty of
investment the emanations of Hellenic inspiration. But the elements
of permanency were wanting to such factitious aptitudes, as they were
in fact to the fabric of the Empire itself; and the wave of political
stability was closely followed in its rise and fall by the advance or
decline of the arts. After the reign of Augustus the tide of prosperity
ebbed for about half a century until it reached its lowest level
during the Civil Wars which heralded the settlement of Vespasian on
the throne. It rose again, and for more than fifty years maintained
an active flow during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, subsequent
to which its course is marked by a gently descending line, under the
benign rule of the Antonines, until it sinks somewhat abruptly in the
temporary dissolution of the Empire, which preceded the triumph of
Severus. Thenceforward, but two centuries from its foundation,[924]
the sovereignty of Rome entered on shoals and quicksands, calamity
succeeded calamity, and a position of stable equilibrium was never
afterwards regained; but in the vicissitudes of fortune before the
final catastrophe, an illusive glow appeared to signalize more than
once a return of the supremacy of the Caesars.[925]
By the time of Constantine the neglect and degradation of art had
become so pronounced that artists could scarcely be found competent to
execute, even in an inferior style, any monumental record of the events
of the age; or for the construction of the public buildings so lavishly
planned by that monarch in his attempted renovation of the Empire.[926]
To meet the difficulty he promulgated decrees, which were kept in
force and multiplied by his successors, with the view of stimulating
his subjects to devote themselves to arts and the allied handicrafts.
Immunity from all civil burdens was guaranteed; and salaries, with the
free occupation of suitable premises in public places, were offered to
those who would undertake to teach.[927] These measures undoubtedly
tended to the elevation of taste and the maintenance of civilization,
although they could not infuse a new genius into the people of a
decadent age.
At the opening of the sixth century Constantinople was the focus of
civilization not only in the East, but also with respect to those
western countries which had until lately been united as members of
the same political system. The suzerainty of the eastern Emperor was
still tacitly allowed, or, at least, upheld; and the prestige of his
capital was felt actively throughout the ruder West as a refining
influence which only waned after the period of the Renaissance. The
main characteristic of art at this epoch is an unskilled imitation
of ancient models; and the conventional style regarded as typically
Byzantine, which at one time prevailed so widely in Europe, was not
to become apparent for many centuries to come.[928] But by the fifth
century certain modifications of design, betraying the infiltration of
Oriental tastes, also began to be observable.[929]
_a._ Architecture at Constantinople remained essentially Greek, or,
at least, Graeco-Roman; and the constant demand for new buildings,
especially churches, ordained that it should still be zealously
studied. In the provinces, however, particularly on the Asiatic side,
some transitional examples would have enabled an observer to forecast
already an era of cupolar construction.[930]
_b._ On the other hand, statuary almost threatened to become a lost
art. The devotion to athletic contests, which prevailed among the
Greeks, caused them to lay great stress on physical culture; and at
the public games, as well as in the preparatory gymnasia, they were
constantly familiarized with the aspect of the human figure undraped
in every phase of action and repose.[931] The eye of the artist thus
acquired a precision which enabled him to execute works in marble with
a perfection unapproached in any later age. To the anthropomorphic
spirit of polytheism it was necessary that the images of the gods
should be multiplied in temples and even in public places; and the
Greeks essayed to express the ideal beauty of their divinities
under those corporeal forms which appeared most exquisite to the
human senses. Received as being of both sexes and as fulfilling
the conception of faultless excellence in a variety of spheres, a
boundless field lay open before the artist in which to represent them
according to their diverse attributes of sovereignty, of intellect,
or of grace.[932] But the traditions of Hebrew monotheism sternly
forbid any material presentation of the Deity, and sculpture in the
round was almost abolished at the advent of Christianity. In one minor
department, however, that of ivory carving, a school of artists was
constantly exercised in order to provide the annual batch of consular
diptychs, which it was customary to distribute throughout the provinces
every new year.[933] On each set of these plates, figured in low
relief, appeared generally duplicate likenesses of the consul of the
day, clad in his state robes and surrounded by subsidiary designs. The
style of these productions, perfunctorily executed it may be, suggests
that the average artist of the period was incapable of portraiture or
of tracing correctly the lines of any living form.[934]
_c._ Less unfortunate with reference to religion were the pictorial
arts at this date. The decoration of churches, in brilliant colour
and appropriate iconography, was gradually carried to a degree of
elaboration which has never since been surpassed. The intrinsic
nature of popular devotion insensibly established the convention that
images in the flat did not contravene the divine prohibitions; and
ecclesiastical prejudice yielded to expediency. On the iconostasis
and around the walls of the sacred edifice, in proximity to the
worshippers, Christ, the Virgin, the Apostles, and the Saints, with
many a scene of Gospel history, were depicted in glowing tints on
a blue or a golden ground. On every available space of the ceiling
similar subjects, but of larger dimensions, were executed in a
brilliant glass mosaic, and the mass of colour overhead completed the
gorgeous effect of the interior.[935] Accordantly it was considered
that reverence for the holy scriptures was fittingly shown by the
reproduction of copies in the most costly form; and hence the painting
of manuscripts in miniature revived and endured as one of the staple
industries of the age. But in all these cases defective drawing and
perspective are often painfully conspicuous, and a meretricious display
of colour seems to be regarded by the artist as the highest expression
of his skill.[936]
_d._ By the end of the fifth century we are on the verge of that
new era in literature, introduced by the Byzantines, when to make a
transcript of some previous writer was to become an author.[937] In
other branches of art from time to time some obvious merit becomes
visible on the surface, but in the domain of poetry, during nearly
fourteen centuries previous to the fall of the Empire, a single name
only, that of Claudian, survives to remind us that both Greeks and
Latins once possessed the faculty of expressing themselves in verse
with nobility of thought and felicity of diction. Poetasters existed
in abundance, but without exception their compositions exemplify the
futility of striving after an object which in that age had resolved
itself into the unattainable. The usefulness of prose as a medium of
information, however low may be its literary level, often compensates
us for lack of talent in an author; and the bald chronicler, who
plagiarized his predecessors in the same field and presented their work
as his own, is sometimes as welcome to the investigator as a writer of
more ambitious aims. In these barren centuries, however, history and
theology are occasionally illustrated by some work of original power.
In the foregoing paragraphs I have dealt with education in relation
only to the male sex, and it remains for me to say a few words
respecting the mental training of the female. In keeping with the rule
as to their social seclusion, the instruction of girls was conducted
in the privacy of the family circle. There they received, in addition
to the usual rudiments, a certain tincture of polite learning, which
implied the methodical reading of Homer and a limited acquaintance
with some of the other Greek poets and the dramatists.[938] Music, as
being an elegant accomplishment, was also taught to them.[939] They
were not, however, debarred from extending the scope of their studies,
and instances of learned ladies are not altogether wanting to this age,
for example, the Empress Athenais or Eudocia[940] and the celebrated
Hypatia.[941]
A glance at the slight structure of knowledge, the leading lines of
which I have just lightly traced, may enable the modern reader to
appreciate the conditions of intellectual life among the ancients,
and to perceive within how narrow an area was confined the exercise
of their reasoning faculties. Viewed in comparison with the vast body
of contemporary science, all the information acquired by the Greeks
must appear as an inconsiderable residue scarcely capable of conveying
a perceptible tinge to the whole mass. For fully eighteen hundred
years, from the age of Aristotle to that of Columbus and Copernicus,
no advance was made in the elucidation of natural phenomena or even
towards exploring the surface of the globe. The same globe has been
surveyed and delineated in its widest extent by the industry of our
cartographers, has been seamed with a labyrinth of railways for the
conveyance of substance, and invested in a network of wire for the
transmission of thought. In the universe of suns our solar system
appears to us as a minute and isolated disc, the earth a speck within
that disc; to the ancients the revelations of telescopic astronomy
were undreamt of, and the world they inhabited (all but a tithe of
which was concealed from them, and whose form they only mistily
realized) seemed to them to be the heart of the universe, of which the
rest of the celestial bodies were assumed to be merely subordinate
appendages. Geological investigation has penetrated the past history
of the earth through a million of centuries to those primeval times
when meteorological conditions first favoured the existence of organic
life; the people of antiquity were blinded by unfounded legends which
antedated the origin of things to a few thousand years before their
own age. Spectroscopic observation has assimilated the composition of
the most distant stars to that of our own planet. Chemical analysis
has achieved the dissolution of the numberless varieties of matter
presented to our notice, and proved them to arise merely from diverse
combinations of a few simple elements; and electrical research has
almost visually approached that primordial substance in which is
conceived to exist the ultimate unity of all things.[942] Synthetical
chemistry has acquired the skill to control the inherent affinities
of nature, and to compel her energies to the production of myriads of
hitherto unknown compounds.[943] By the aid of the microscope we can
survey the activities of those otherwise invisible protoplasmic cells
which lie at the foundation of every vital process; and the possibility
is foreshadowed that, in the alliance of biology and chemistry, we
may one day succeed in crossing the bridge which links the organic
to the inorganic world and command the beginnings of life.[944] In
all these departments of objective knowledge the speculations and
researches of the Greek philosophers had not even broken the ground.
For these primitive observers, without history and without science, the
world was a thing of yesterday, a novel appearance of which almost
anything might be affirmed or denied. Magnetism was known merely as
an interesting property of the lodestone; electricity, as yet unnamed,
had barely arrested attention as a peculiarity of amber, when excited
by friction, to attract light substances. Nor had the mechanical
arts been developed so as to admit of any practical application
and stimulate the industries of civilization. Although automatic
toys were sometimes constructed with considerable ingenuity,[945]
the simplest labour-saving machine was as yet uninvented.[946]
In the early centuries of our era knowledge had become stagnant,
and further progress was not conceived of. One half of the world
lived on frivolity; the individuality of the other half was sunk in
metaphysical illusion. The people of this age contemplated nature
without comprehending her operations; her forces were displayed before
their eyes, but it never entered into their heads to master them and
make them subservient to the needs of human life; they moved within a
narrow cage unconscious of the barriers which confined them, without
a thought of emerging to the freedom of the beyond; and an ordinary
citizen of the present day is in the possession of information which
would surprise and instruct the greatest sage of ancient Greece.
III. RELIGIOUS.
The increase of knowledge in the nineteenth century has stripped every
shred of supernaturalism from our conception of popular religions.
The studies and inventions of modern science have illuminated every
corner of the universe; and our discovery of the origins has cleared
the greatest stumbling-block from the path of philosophy and removed
the last prop which sustained the fabric of organized superstition.
The world will one day have to face the truth about religion; and it
may then become necessary to restrain by legal enactment those who
would draw away the masses to some old historical, or to some new-born
superstition.[947]
In primitive times the curiosity and impatience of mankind demanded
an immediate explanation of the activities of nature; and by a simple
analogy they soon conceived the existence of a demiurge or maker of
worlds who, in his loftier sphere, disposed of the materials of the
universe by methods comparable to those of their own constructive
operations.[948] Or, perchance, by even less speculative reasoning
they were led to accept the phenomenal world as the result of a
perpetual generation and growth which accorded closely with their
everyday experience of nature; whilst a divinity of some kind seemed to
lurk in every obscurity and all visible objects to be instinct with a
life and intelligence of their own.[949] In either case they believed
themselves to be in the presence of beings of superior attributes whom
it was desirable or necessary to conciliate by some form of address
adapted to gain their favour or to avert their enmity. Hence worship,
the parent of some system of ritual likely to become more elaborate
in the lapse of time; and the ultimate establishment of a priestly
caste who would soon profess to an intercourse with the unseen not
vouchsafed to ordinary mortals. Gradually the first vague notions of
a celestial hierarchy grew more realistic by imaginative or expedient
accretions; and in a later age the sense of a less ignorant community
would not be revolted by incredible details as to the personal
intervention of divinities in the history of their progenitors when
such events were relegated to a dimly realized past. But, although
a belief in revelation as seen through the mists of antiquity
prevails readily at all times among the unthinking masses, a spirit
of scepticism and inquiry arises with the advent of civilization and
increases concurrently with the vigour of its growth. Then the national
mythology is submitted to the test of a dispassionate logic, and its
crude constituents become more and more rejected by the sagacity of
a cultured class. They, however, always hitherto an inconsiderable
minority, feel constrained to an indulgence more or less qualified of
the superstitions of the vulgar for fear of disturbing the political
harmony of the state.
The early Greek philosophers awoke into life to find themselves endowed
with vast intelligence in a world of which they knew nothing. No
record of the past, no forecast of the future disturbed the serenity
of their intellectual horizon. In a more aesthetic environment they
renewed the impulse to interpret nature with a finer sense of congruity
than was possessed by their rude ancestors, but their methods were
identical, and they believed they could advance beyond the bounds of
experience by the exercise of a vivid imagination. The coarse myths of
polytheism were thrust aside, and the void was filled with fantastic
cosmogonies, some of which included, whilst others dispensed with, the
agency of a Deity.[950] The truth and finality of such speculations
was shortly assumed, and schools of philosophy, representing every
variety of doctrine, were formed, except that in which it was foreseen
that knowledge would be attained only by the long and laborious path
of experimental investigation. But whilst disciples were attracted to
different sects by the personal influence of a teacher, by the novelty
of his tenets, or by their own mental bias, the general sense of the
community remained unconvinced; and the independent thinkers of the
next generation perceived the futility of inquiries which evolved
nothing coherent and revealed no new facts. Scientific research, for
the deliberate striving after deeper insight ranked as such in the
unpractised mind of the period, was discredited, and an impression
that the limits of human knowledge had already been reached began
to prevail universally. A reign of scepticism was inaugurated, the
evidence of the senses in respect even of the most patent facts was
doubted, and the study of nature was virtually abandoned.[951] Then
philosophy became synonymous with ethics, but by ethics was understood
merely the rule of expediency in public life, a subject which was
debated with much sophistry. The inspiration of Socrates impelled
him to combat this tendency, to search earnestly after truth, and
to inculcate an elevated sense of duty. His mind was pervaded by an
intense philanthropy which affected his associates so profoundly
that his teaching did not lose its influence for centuries after his
death. From the time of Socrates the fruits of experience began to be
gathered, and new schools of philosophy were organized on the sounder
basis of divulging to their votaries how to make the best use of their
lives. The views entertained on this question were as various as the
divergences of human temperament, and adapted to countenance the
serious or the frivolous proclivities of mankind.[952] A theological or
cosmical theory was a usual part of the equipment of these schools,
but in outward demeanour they conformed, more or less strictly, with
the religion of the state. The intellectual movement among the Greeks
culminated after about two centuries of activity in the career of
Aristotle, who undertook to sift, to harmonize, and to codify all the
knowledge of his age.[953] A great work had been accomplished; all
that wild outgrowth with which savage intellection is wont to encumber
the domain of reason had been swept away, and the ground had been
subjected to an orderly, though unproductive planting. The conception
that nature would yield a harvest as the reward of rational study had
been awakened, but the efforts lapsed because the method had yet to be
discovered of fertilizing the vacant soil.[954]
The conception of social ethics or of mutual obligation among the
members of a community appears to have been one of those influences
which presided at the birth of civilization, and to have attained
theoretical perfection far back in the prehistoric past; whilst the
perpetual conflict between duty and individual advantage has always
inhibited altruism from being accepted as an invariable guide to
conduct without the artificial support of penal law. In Homer and
Hesiod we find almost every rule for living uprightly adequately
expressed. A man should honour his parents, love and be generous to his
friends, be a good neighbour, and succour strangers and suppliants.
He should be truthful, honest, continent, and industrious; and should
consider sloth to be a disgrace.[955] In the next age Hellenic
refinement could add little more than fuller expression to these simple
precepts. But from Pythagoras to Socrates, from Aristotle to Cicero,
from Seneca to Marcus Aurelius, a constant emission of ethical doctrine
was maintained. Amid the wealth of disquisition, innumerable striking
aphorisms might be selected, but only a few such can be recorded here:
We should scan the actions of each day before resigning ourselves to
sleep;[956] We have contracted with the government under which we live
to submit ourselves to its laws, even should they condemn us to death
unjustly;[957] We should pity the man who inflicts an injury more than
him who suffers it, for the one is harmed only in his body, the other
in his more precious soul;[958] Do not unto others what it angers you
to suffer yourself;[959] Even should we be able to conceal our conduct
from gods and men, we are not the less bound to act uprightly;[960] The
judge, as well as the criminal, is on his trial that he may deliver
just decisions;[961] Do not revile the malefactor, but commiserate him
as one who knows not right from wrong;[962] Blame none, for men only do
evil involuntarily.[963] By the first century slaves had begun to be
considered in a more humane light; and masters were enjoined to look
on them as humble friends, as brothers with whom it was no disgrace to
sit at meat.[964] The iniquity of the gladiatorial shows was beginning
to be felt in the time of Cicero,[965] and they were denounced in no
measured terms by Seneca.[966] Such exhibitions had never been proper
to the Greek communities and, when an attempt was made to introduce
them at Athens in the second century, the cynic philosopher Demonax
restrained his fellow citizens by declaring that before doing so they
should first demolish the altar of Pity.[967] The exposure of new-born
infants was one of the besetting sins of antiquity, and the practice
was universal among the Latins and Greeks.[968] The inhumanity of it
was, however, perceived early in our era; yet not until the reign of
Severus do we find a legal pronouncement against it.[969] Constantine
discountenanced it, but no comprehensive enactment for its suppression
was promulgated till the end of the fourth century.[970] Charity
towards the needy was a recognized duty from the earliest times, and
Homer voices the general sentiment when he writes that strangers and
the poor are to be treated as emissaries from the gods.[971] At Athens,
in its palmy days, an allowance was made to indigent citizens;[972] and
the lavish system of outdoor relief denoted by the trite phrase, _Panem
et circenses_, as introduced by the Caesars, threatened to pauperize
the urban population of the Empire.[973] The origin of charitable
asylums is not well ascertained, but there is evidence that in the
first century at least the foundation of such institutions was already
being promoted by the rulers of the state.[974] The Roman Empire
entered the Christian era equipped with a civilization scarcely at all
inferior to that of the present day in relation to art, literature,
and social ethics, but a sustaining principle, which could endow
the splendid fabric with quality of permanency, was wanting. It was
vulnerable within and without; and two powerful enemies, superstition
and the barbarian, were awaiting the opportune moment to prey upon it.
The dissolution commenced within; ignorance of natural science allowed
the first to work havoc in its vital parts; the barbarian assaulted the
infected mass from without, and the ruin became complete.
The political unification of the most civilized portion of the globe
was begun by the conquests of Alexander and completed by those of
Rome. Sociological homogeneity was attendant on centralization of
government. From Britain to North Africa and from Spain to Asia Minor
thought flowed through the same channels. Rome and Greece dominated
the world between them; while the former assumed the physical control
of the nations, the latter held their mental faculties in subjection.
Progressively, however, influences began to permeate the Empire which
were foreign to both Latins and Hellenes. East and west confronted each
other on the Asiatic frontier; Egyptians and Jews were commingled with
the Latin and Greek races in the great mart of Alexandria. Oriental
mysticism became rife, and gods of every nationality were received
into the bosom of Rome.[975] In the first century of the Christian
era the times were ripe for new religious beliefs. By the expansion of
the Roman dominions the classes had become cosmopolitan, and a wide
experience of men and manners had dissipated the rustic simplicity
of the Republic. The society of the Empire was enlightened by the
speculations of Greek philosophy; it became versed in metaphysical
discussion, and soon conceived an irreverence for the divinities of a
ruder age.[976] Everywhere the same level of mental apprehension was
ultimately reached. Then the inanity of earthly existence began to be
acutely felt. The thoughtful looked through the void and saw nowhere
for the mind to rest. Zeal for public distinction had been suppressed
by military despotism, and the pride which animates the strenuous
virtues of a rising commonwealth was extinct. Levity pervaded the
aimless crowd who lived only for the diversion of the hour. Nature had
been interrogated repeatedly with an invariably negative result; her
secret, if she possessed one, seemed to be impenetrable and destined
to remain for ever unknown. No discovery in science had opened up the
vista of a path which led through inexhaustible fields of knowledge.
The psychical unrest longed for new ideals and was willing to be
appeased by the slightest semblance of a revelation. Religion-making
became a craft which was followed by more than one practitioner in
all the chief cities of the Empire. A host of charlatans arose and
made many victims by pretending to theurgic powers.[977] Agitated by
vague impulses the social units drifted with indeterminable currents,
for more than a century before the heterogeneous elements which were
in commotion showed a tendency to group themselves under any concrete
forms. At length the appearances of a settlement became visible, and
three distinct forms emerged successively from the previously existing
chaos, each of which claimed to have sounded the abysmal depths and to
have brought to the surface the inestimable balm which was to salve the
bruised souls of humanity. But they beheld each other with horror and
contempt, and a contest was initiated between them on the theatre of
the Empire for the spiritual dominion of mankind.
I. In the year 28 A.D., the fifteenth of the reign of Tiberius, Pontius
Pilate was governor of Judaea, the subordinate officer of Aelius
Lamia, the Imperial legate of Syria.[978] At that point of time a man,
previously unknown among the Jews, assumed the rôle of a public teacher
of religion and ethics and devoted himself to an itinerant mission
throughout the cities and districts of Palestine. He seemed to be about
thirty years old and it was soon realized that he was a certain Jesus
who had hitherto worked as a carpenter, his father’s trade, in his
native village of Nazareth. He preached a reformation of manners among
the people generally, and rebuked with a penetrating bitterness the
pride and hypocrisy of the chief men of his own race. At the outset
of his career he summoned to his assistance twelve men of the same
humble rank as himself and enjoined them to follow his example. He did
not confine himself to hortatory discourses, but proved on numerous
occasions that he had the gift of working miracles. At his command
the sick were healed and even the dead returned to life. Those who
were possessed with devils he immediately released from their baleful
thraldom.[979] The laws of nature appeared to be subject to his will
and were reversed whenever he thought fit to exert his power over them.
Finally he declared himself to be the Messiah or Christ, a more than
mortal being whom the Jews expected to rescue them from their political
abasement and raise them to a position of national supremacy. Israel
as a body rejected his claims with scorn and derision; his ministry
of peace afforded no prospect of the rehabilitation they aspired
to.[980] He met them in the temple at Jerusalem and they demanded
of him a sign that he was an emissary sent from heaven. In reply he
assailed them with vituperation and hurried from the precincts. Amongst
his own following he explained himself; his design had been entirely
misconceived; he was the son of Jehovah and his kingdom was not of this
world. He had been sent to reconcile his own nation to his father, the
ruler of the universe, whom they had offended by their moral laxity
and corruption. He would shortly depart from the earth, but he would
soon return with all the powers of heaven to judge the inhabitants of
this lower sphere. Then the just would be received into a state of
bliss without end, whilst the wicked should be consigned to everlasting
torment. He persisted in his didactic work, which tended to make the
chief priests and elders odious in the eyes of the people, until they
determined to compass his destruction. Ultimately he was seized and
brought before the Roman governor as a mover of sedition, but Pilate
was unconcerned and wished to release him. His accusers insisted, he
yielded and, after suffering every indignity, Jesus was crucified
between two thieves on mount Calvary during the Paschal festival of
A.D. 29, under the consulship of the two Gemini.[981] But his disciples
had been forewarned by their master that his death in the guise of a
malefactor was preordained as an atonement to effect the redemption
of the world from sin. Had it been otherwise legions of angels would
descend to discomfort his impious antagonists. At the same time he
predicted that he would rise from the dead on the third day after the
burial of his body. This promise was fulfilled, his sepulchre was found
empty, and Jesus appeared again to his disciples. He discoursed with
them for forty days, constituted them apostles to preach his Gospel
not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, and in their presence
ascended into the heavens until the clouds received him out of their
sight.
Such was the astounding relation elicited with some difficulty from
a sect of new religionists called Christians, who, as early as the
reign of Nero, were sufficiently numerous at Rome to have incurred
the hatred of the populace through their austere disposition and
their stern abjuration of the national gods.[982] In the year 64
the city was devastated by an appalling conflagration of which the
insensate emperor was himself accused, but he shifted the odium
to the already discredited recusants, and condemned many of them
to perish in the flames by a peculiarly atrocious method.[983]
Nevertheless the Christians maintained their ground and thirty years
later were regarded with hostility by the tyrant Domitian as a body
of proselytizing Jews in the capital.[984] At the dawn of the second
century the younger Pliny found them so numerous in his province of
Bithynia as almost to have subverted the established religion. In
great concern he wrote to the Emperor Trajan questioning whether he
should proceed to extremities in his efforts to suppress them. This
epistle is extant, and through it some details were first made public
as to their tenets and mode of worship. Before daybreak on a certain
day they met and recited an address to Christ as to a god; bound
themselves by oath to commit no crime against society, and partook
together of a common meal. The cultured Roman, imbued with literature
and philosophy, estimated the Christian belief as a depraved and
extravagant superstition, the eradication of which was dictated by
state policy, but his master counselled him to disregard it unless
popular animosity should in particular instances compel him to drag
its devotees from their obscurity.[985] The Christian missionaries
pursued their labours unremittingly and were especially active among
the proletariat, from whom during the first centuries their converts
were almost exclusively drawn.[986] Throughout the length and breadth
of the Empire they persistently undermined the existing order of
things by teaching doctrines which were at variance with the received
conception of Roman citizenship. Not only did they revile the pagan
deities, whom they classed as demons instead of gods, and shun their
festivals,[987] but they evinced an utter aversion for military
service.[988] The polytheists were incensed at the pretensions of a
deity who would not share the theocracy, but claimed to oust all other
divinities from their seats and occupy the celestial throne alone,[989]
whilst statesmen became alarmed at the prospect of political defection,
and began to second the vulgar prejudice by systematic efforts at
exterminating the spreading sect. The benignant Marcus Aurelius was
induced to believe that the Christians were a danger to the state and
he issued a decree (_c._ 177) that they should be sought out and put
to death unless willing to abandon their faith.[990] This was the
first decided persecution, but, although many perished, it proved
ineffective, as no means available were strong enough to extinguish the
flames of fanaticism. On the contrary, those who stood firm before the
tribunals and were allowed to escape with their lives ranked afterwards
as “Confessors,” a title more glorious in the eyes of their fellows
than any temporal dignity; whilst constancy to the death became the
essential qualification of Martyrs or witnesses to the truth, Saints
who were admitted forthwith among the heavenly host as mediators
between God and man.[991] As soon as the repressive measures were
relaxed all the weaker brethren, who had abjured in the face of danger,
prayed for readmission to the conventicles, and were usually received
after the infliction of a term of penance. Once and again during the
next century and a half widespread persecution was had recourse to by
Decius and by Diocletian, but the Christians throve and prospered in
the intervals despite of fitful and local hostility.[992] The memorable
battle of the Milvian bridge in 312 proved to be a turning-point in
the history of Rome and of Christianity; and the state religion of the
ancient world was involved in the fall of the dissolute Maxentius.
The victorious Constantine, as sole Emperor of the West, immediately
concerted a measure with his colleague of the East, Licinius, for the
establishment of religious toleration throughout their dominions.[993]
Thenceforward Christianity was free to expand in obedience to the
charge she had received at her origin and to apply herself to the task
of supplanting every other belief.
The acceptance of all religions is pressed by an appeal to the
supernatural sub-structure on which they profess to be based; and
this claim is substantiated by the presentment of some miraculous
circumstances from which they are asserted to have derived their birth.
Evidential obscurity has always been the soul of such pretensions;
and the truth of the most improbable occurrences has been resolutely
maintained because assured witnesses could not be produced in order to
prove a negative. But the time for historical discussion or sifting
of evidence in relation to such matters has long gone by; and in the
twentieth century the philosopher is enabled without examination
to dismiss with a smile the mere suggestion that such events have
occurred.[994] That any narrative, which in its essential statements
consists largely of the marvellous, should be rejected as false in
its entirety has almost risen to the dignity of a canon of historical
criticism. The principle, however, has often been unduly strained in
its application; and no judicious investigator would refuse to allow
that a slender thread of fact may sometimes be extricated from a mass
of incredible legend. The awe-inspiring life of Jesus emanates from
authors of unascertainable date and repute. No neutral scribe, no
adverse critic, has furnished us with any personal impressions of his
career bearing the intrinsic marks of truth and simplicity. Nor can
it be affirmed that any character fairly discernible on the stage of
history ever knew an apostle. The Twelve who are credited with having
disseminated the faith of the Gospel from east to west lie buried
in a more than prehistoric obscurity, the writings ascribed to them
doubted, denied, or clearly disproved.[995] It can scarcely be a matter
of surprise, therefore, if some serious scholars of modern times have
committed themselves to an absolute denial that the nominal founder
of Christianity has had any real existence.[996] Yet the cause of
mysticism was well served by the impenetrable cloud which hung over
the mundane activity of Jesus. No common inquiry enabled the diligent
adversaries of Christianity to strip the veil from the idealized
figure, and expose its features to the gaze of vulgar observation. The
philosophic critic was reduced to mere expressions of incredulity; and
the despair of historians became the firmest pillar of belief in the
church.[997]
II. In an idle hour Plato applied himself to shadowing forth a
theological doctrine which should account for the origin and
guidance of the objective universe.[998] A supreme god, the One or
the Good,[999] at a certain moment conceived a creative design and
fashioned the material world out of pre-existing elements.[1000] This
task completed, he created intellect and soul; and by combining the two
together produced living intelligence.[1001] He was now provided with
all the requisite ingredients for peopling the world he had made; and
his next step was to form a primal race of spiritual beings or daemons
whom he endowed with immortality. From these by generation issued
the whole progeny of gods worshipped by the Greeks, for whom their
pedigrees and actions were recorded by Orpheus, Homer, and Hesiod.
Among the divine existences were also to be reckoned the stars. At
this stage the creative work of the One came to an end. He addressed
the daemons and said: “You have observed my method of procedure when
engaged in moulding yourselves. Follow my example and set about the
production of mortal natures to inhabit the air, the water, and the
earth.” They obeyed his behests, and the whole animal kingdom was the
result of their labours. But the grosser matter with which mortal
souls are weighed down is the essence of evil, and the just man will,
therefore, desire to escape from the body in order to be free from
its impure passions.[1002] For the Creator had appointed that each
soul should be associated with a particular star, to whose blissful
abode it might return as the reward of a life well spent on earth. The
unrighteous soul, however, must first be chastened by an ordeal of
transmigration through descending grades of lower animal natures, the
least abased being that of a woman.
This cosmological phantasy of Plato was destined, after lying dormant
for more than five centuries, to breathe a new spirit into the almost
inanimate body of polytheism. The higher social caste, still adhering
languidly to the old belief, counted among them many elevated minds
devoted to the traditions of the past, who apprehended with dismay
the dissolution of all they prized in the ebbing tide of Paganism.
The effete superstition could only be sustained by some process of
depuration capable of reconciling it with the more refined perceptions
of the age. The required influence was at hand. From Alexandria, where
an international fusion of philosophies and religions had been in
progress almost since the foundation of the city, a new dispensation
proceeded before the middle of the third century. In that capital,
the Greek was penetrated by the spirit of Oriental mysticism, and the
Jew was fascinated by the intellectual ascendancy of the schools of
Athens. The ancient rivalry of sects had almost died out, and a later
generation of inquirers adopted freely whatever they could assimilate
from various systems of philosophy.[1003] After passing tentatively
through several stages from the first years of our era, a theological
doctrine under the name of Platonism was elaborated by the Egyptian,
Plotinus,[1004] with sufficient completeness to be presented to the
devout polytheist as a rule of life. In general conception, the new
faith did not differ essentially from the scheme advanced by the
founder of the Academy, but, with its deficiencies supplied from exotic
sources, it was propounded solemnly as a theosophy which revealed
the whole purport of human existence. As a practical religion, this
revival, Neoplatonism by name, enjoined a purity of life which should
free the soul from defilement by contact with the world, and allow it
to coalesce with the divine potential whence it had emanated.[1005] The
crowning allurement of the system was that this blissful conjunction
might be attained by the fervid votary even during life. Those who
had subjugated all their natural, and, therefore, evil passions,
might rise by contemplation to an ecstatic union with the Deity, the
transcendant One; or, to express it irreverently in modern language,
might acquire the faculty of passing into a hypnotic trance.[1006] As
soon as Plotinus had perfected his invention, he proceeded to Rome
(_c._ 244), with the view of professing his doctrine to the mystically
inclined on the most extended theatre in the Empire. Here his success
was very considerable, and he gained numerous adherents, especially as
he conceded that all forms of Pagan worship availed as a real approach
to the Deity and enshrined germs of truth derived from some primitive
revelation. He became influential at Court and was about to organize
a Utopian community on the lines of Plato’s ideal republic under the
auspices of Gallienus when the fall of that Emperor frustrated his
design.
Plotinus died in 270, leaving many disciples to continue the work
of his school, the foremost of whom was Porphyry, known as a keen
assailant of Christianity.[1007] To him succeeded the Syrian,
Iamblichus, a contemporary of Constantine, who gave the final form
to Neoplatonism and adapted it for widest acceptance. The religion
of Plotinus was an ineffable creed which avowedly excluded vulgar
participation, and was addressed only to cultured aspirants;[1008] but
a descent was made by his successors who, with the object of amplifying
their influence, embraced gradually all the crass superstitions of
the multitude. A mystical signification was read into the sacred
books of the Greeks, as the poems of Orpheus, Homer, and Hesiod
may appropriately be termed, by an allegorical interpretation of
every phrase or incident in the text. All trivial circumstances or
immoral pictures were thus disclosed to be fraught with spiritual or
ethical meaning for the pious reader.[1009] The endless procession of
invisible beings with which Eastern fancy had peopled space, angels,
demons, archons, and demigods, were accepted by the latter school
and associated to the theocracy as mediators who could be summoned
and suborned to human purposes by magic rites, incantations, and
sacrifices.[1010] By the time this stage had been reached, Neoplatonism
appeared to be fully equipped for satisfying the occult proclivities of
all classes, and asserting its right to become the prevailing religion
of the state.
III. The most distinctive and irrepressible theological principle
which entered Western civilization from the East, was the dualistic
conception of nature inherent in the old Babylonian religions. The
seers of that ancient people could not resolve the problem as to the
providential government of the world, without postulating a perpetual
strife between two opposed powers, who were engaged in determining the
course of events. The spectacle of suffering humanity enforced the
belief that a potent spirit of evil shared the control of the existing
order of things to an equal extent with the benign Deity from whom all
blessings flowed. The eastern provinces of the Empire became saturated
with these views, and the prime mover in diffusing them was said to be
that Simon Magus who, although he makes but a brief and insignificant
appearance in Gospel history, occupies a very considerable space
in extra-biblical literature.[1011] Under the name of Gnostics,
recipients of a special enlightenment or _gnosis_, his reputed progeny
swarmed about the early Christian Church, whose presence seemed to
rouse them into vitality; for, in the doctrine of redemption by Jesus,
they found, as they imagined, the key to much that was unexplained
in their own system.[1012] Diversity in the apprehension of detail
was an innate characteristic of the Gnostic brood; whence it followed
that they became apparent in small sects only, computed at some
scores, and, though numerous, never attained the weight of union as a
religious body. Gradually they were dissolved by the preponderance of
the Catholic Church, which absorbed their members and proscribed their
peculiar tenets.[1013]
There was, however, one form of dualism which arose beyond the borders
of the Empire, and, from its centre in Persia, spread with great
rapidity eastwards to the frontiers of China, and westwards as far as
the Atlantic ocean. This international faith, for such it became in
less than a century, was called Manichaeism from its founder Mani, of
whom little certain is known; but he was probably a native of Ecbatana,
the Median capital.[1014] As the prophet of a new dispensation, Mani
belongs to the second class of makers of religion, that is, he did
not claim to be himself a god, but only an apostle commissioned by
the Deity. His life extended to upwards of sixty years, and he was
countenanced by more than one of the Sassanian kings. At length,
however, he fell a victim to the jealousy of the Magi, the exponents
of the established belief of Zarathushtra, at whose instigation he was
crucified and flayed by Bahram I. In the system of Mani the fundamental
conception is the antithesis of light and darkness, by which the
opposition between good and evil is vividly denoted; and the present
world originates in the accident of a war breaking out between the
respective powers. Satan, the Prince of Darkness, discovers by chance
the kingdom of light, the existence of which was previously unknown
to him, and, with his army of demons, makes an incursion into it. The
God of Light, sustained by his pure spirits, engages and defeats him,
but during the campaign a commingling has occurred of elements of the
two realms. The contest now resolves into the efforts of the Deity to
regain, and of Satan to retain, the portions of light which were lost
in the darkness. The first step is the formation by the former of this
world, but the latter creates man as a secure receptacle for the light
he had acquired. Hence this creature is animated by two souls, an evil
one as well as a soul of light; and Satan enslaves him by exciting
his bad passions.[1015] The process of restoring the light goes on
continually, and the sun and moon are great reservoirs into which it
is poured by the active agents of the superior Deity. The human race
is placed in possession of the clue to paradise by having this gnosis
imparted to it. A rigid asceticism must be practised according to
prescribed rules. There were, however, two ranks of Manichaeans, the
Elect and the Auditors. The earnest votaries joined the first, and on
them celibacy and a vegetarian diet were imposed. Membership of the
second was adapted to the masses, from whom only moderate abstinence
was required. They ministered religiously to the Elect, whom they thus
enlisted as redeemers on their behalf, so that with the addition of a
term of purgatory after death, they also became fitted for paradise.
Mani utilized some of the ideas of Christianity in order to connect
his religion practically with mankind, but his transferences are
rather imitations than acceptances of anything really Christian. Thus
he acknowledged a Jesus Christ, who abides in the son, as the “primal
man” or first-born of the Deity.[1016] He had visited the earth as a
prophet, and from him Mani had received his apostolic mission, whence
he usurped the title of the Paraclete, whose advent was promised
in the Gospels. He also instructed twelve disciples to preach his
doctrine. The success and prevalence of Manichaeism was at one time
very great, for it arose as the revivifying force of more than one
aspect of dualism in the East and West. It fostered the time-honoured
traditions of the inhabitants of the Euphrates valley, and drew to
itself the disintegrating coteries of Gnostics within the Roman
Empire. A Manichaean popedom was established, which had its seat for
several centuries in Babylon. As early as 287 Diocletian denounced the
propagation of the religion as a capital offence, on the grounds that
the “execrable customs and cruel laws” of the Persians might thereby
gain a footing among his “mild and peaceful” subjects.[1017]
From the foregoing summary it will be seen that in the first years
of the fourth century polytheism, as resuscitated by Neoplatonism,
held the field against its rivals with the support and approval of
the government. We cannot attempt here to fathom the motives, so
prolific as a literary theme, which induced Constantine first to
favour Christianity, then to embrace it for himself and his family,
and finally to raise it into the safe position of being the only
religion recognized by the state. In the blank outlook of the times
some definite belief was a necessity, and, whether from policy or
conviction, he steered his course in the direction where the tide
seemed to set most strongly. Pure Neoplatonism was congenial only
to persons of a meditative temperament; to the sober-minded it was
artificial and unconvincing. Its loftier heights were inaccessible to
the masses, and in its later development it threatened to make common
cause with the jugglers and charlatans who risked a conflict with the
law.[1018] Manichaeism had only begun to rear its head, and at the best
contained much that was fantastic and incomprehensible to a non-Semitic
people.[1019] Christianity was simple, positive, socialistic, a
leveller of class distinctions, for the slave as well as for the free
man, and absolutely intolerant of every other religion. Its emissaries
believed implicitly in their mission, and worked incessantly among the
lower stratum of the population, to whom they delivered the message of
their Gospel in clear and precise terms. By their vehement assertion
there was no escape from, and no alternative to the acceptance of their
creed. The Day of Judgment was at hand; at any moment Jesus might
return to inaugurate a golden age of one thousand years upon the earth;
and all those who had been regenerated by baptism would participate in
His glory.[1020] The primitive church was communistic in principle, and
exceptional solicitude was shown in the administration of charity to
its indigent members. Liberality in this sense was doubtless the means
of winning over many converts, for its bounty was not withheld from the
poor on account of any difference in religion.[1021]
The Christian Church from its inception gradually unfolded itself as
an anarchical association, consisting of affiliated branches scattered
throughout the Empire. At first all members possessed equal rank, and
the status of each one as a presbyter or propagandist was limited only
by his natural capacity for the work. Enthusiasm prevailed in the
secret assemblies, and the excitable, whether male or female, relieved
themselves by impassioned utterances which were accepted by the
listeners as prophetic inspiration.[1022] Subsequent history relates
the development of a hierarchy with the consequent formation of two
parties in the Church, clergy and laity, and the ultimate suppression
of all spiritual assumption by the latter.[1023] Rites and ceremonies
of increasing complexity were instituted, rules of discipline were
elaborated, and proselytes were no longer admitted hastily to
the congregations, but were previously relegated for a course of
instruction to the class of _catechumens_ or probationers. About the
end of the second century Christianity assumed some importance in the
eyes of the educated and wealthy,[1024] so that its doctrines began to
be scrutinized in the spirit of Greek philosophy. A catechetical school
was founded at Alexandria (_c._ 170) for the training of converts
of higher mental capacity; and learned teachers, notably Clement and
Origen, essayed to prove that the new religion could be substantiated
theologically by reference to Plato and Aristotle.[1025] At the same
time the Church began to discard the policy of stealthiness under which
it had grown up, and to indulge the expansive vigour which pervaded
its constitution. Soon the conventicles ceased to meet under the cloak
of secrecy; and by a few decades public edifices were erected with an
architectural ostentation and a treasure of ornaments rubric which
roused the indignation of those who frequented the Pagan temples in the
vicinity.[1026] From that moment the encroaching temper of Christianity
and its uncompromising antagonism to polytheism became manifest to the
government, and zealous officials prepared themselves for a determined
effort to overthrow the upstart power which was undermining the old
order of society.[1027] The futile struggle of Paganism against
Christianity was terminated by Theodosius the Great, who promulgated
edicts both in the East and in the West for the abolition of the
pristine religion of the Empire.[1028] During more than half a century
previously the battle between the two faiths had been open and violent;
and the mild Christians of earlier times often appeared in the light of
ruthless fanatics more conspicuously than had their heathen adversaries
in the heat of a legalized persecution.[1029] The Church triumphant
now entered on its career of quasi-political predominance; wealth and
honours were showered on those who attained to its highest offices; and
the precepts of the poor carpenter, whose constant theme was humility,
were inculcated by a succession of haughty prelates who equalled the
magnificence and exceeded the arrogance of kings.[1030]
From the day of its birth almost to the present hour the Church has
been agitated by internal dissensions generated by the efforts of
reason to understand and to define those inscrutable mysteries, to a
belief in which every supernatural religion must owe its existence.
The primitive religion of the ancients was a natural growth, accepted
insensibly during a state of savagery and maintained politically
long after it had been repudiated by philosophy, but Christianity
was offered to a world already advanced in civilization, and had to
pass through a process of intellectual digestion before it could take
its place as an unassailable national belief. The Church, before it
stands clearly revealed in the light of history, had been inspired
with the conception of a Trinity by a contemplation of the Platonic
philosophy; and the problem as to how this doctrine could be expounded
as not inconsistent with monotheism occasioned the first of those great
councils called Oecumenical. It met in 325 at Nicaea of Bithynia,
and there formulated the Nicene creed, which branded as heretics the
presbyter Arius and his supporters for asserting that the Word, the
Son, the man Jesus, had not eternally existed as of one substance
with the Father, but had been created out of nothing at some date
of an inconceivably remote past. Under the emperors who succeeded
Constantine, however, the Arians returned to power in the East, and
for long oppressed their opponents, the Catholics, until they were
finally reduced to impotence by the orthodox Theodosius I.[1031] But
centuries were yet to elapse before the Church could desist from
weaving those subtleties of dogma as to the inexpressible nature of the
Godhead, in the study of which later theologians discover an exercise
for their memory rather than for their understanding.[1032] Numerous
other councils were convened before the opening of the sixth century,
but of these only three were allowed to rank as Oecumenical, that of
Constantinople in 381, that of Ephesus in 431, and that of Chalcedon in
451. The first of these did little more than to confirm the decisions
of Nicaea, but it won from Theodosius a tacit permission to proceed
to extremities against Paganism.[1033] The second anathematized the
heresy of Nestorius, Patriarch of the Eastern capital, who wished to
deprive the Virgin Mary of the title of Theotokos, or Mother of God.
The bishops who assembled at the Asiatic suburb of Chalcedon, under the
supervision of the Emperor Marcian, were less successful in producing
concord in the Church than those who composed any of the previous
councils; and their resolutions were debated for long afterwards by
dissentient ecclesiastics throughout the East. On this occasion the
orthodox party delivered their last word as the mystic junction of
the divine and human in the Incarnate Christ, and repudiated for ever
the error of the Monophysites that the Saviour was animated only by a
celestial essence.[1034] This was the first instance in which the new
Rome triumphed over her great rival in the East, Alexandria, which
had previously trampled on her Patriarchs, Chrysostom, Nestorius,
Flavian; as the doctrine of the one nature was peculiarly dear to the
Egyptian Church. But the spiritual peace of the Asiatic and African
provinces had been too rudely disturbed for an immediate settlement to
ensue; and more than thirty years later the Emperor Zeno was forced
to issue a _Henoticon_, or Act of Union, in which he sought to induce
unanimity among the prelates of his dominions by effacing the harsher
expressions of the Chalcedonian canons.[1035] The measure, however,
was ineffectual; the conflict of doctrine could not be quelled; and
even Anastasius was branded as a heretic by the Byzantines for not
adopting a hostile attitude towards the Monophysites.[1036] The state
of religious parties under that Emperor may be summarized briefly
as follows: Europe was firmly attached to the Council of Chalcedon,
Egypt was bitterly opposed to it, whilst in Asia its adversaries and
adherents were almost equally divided. Of Arians there were not a
few, but they were everywhere severely repressed. Nevertheless, in
the capital itself a handsome church was reserved for those addicted
to that heresy, St. Mocius in the Exokionion. But this was an
indulgence conceded exclusively to the Gothic soldiery, all bigoted
Arians, with whose faith no emperor ever dared to tamper.[1037] At the
same time polytheism appeared to be extinct; the Pagan temples were
everywhere evacuated, and for the most part purposely ruined.[1038]
After the murder of Hypatia the Neoplatonists deserted Alexandria
and betook themselves to Athens, where they were disregarded as a
merely philosophical association without the privilege of public
worship.[1039] Manichaeans were numerous within the Empire, but could
only exist in secret as a proscribed sect subject to severe penalties,
confiscation, loss of civil rights, and relegation to the mines, if
convicted.[1040] Relics of minor denominations, more or less obscure
and impotent, need not be more particularly alluded to in this place.
Nothing in this age accelerated the social descent towards barbarism so
much as the illusion that bliss in a future state was most positively
assured to those Christians who denied themselves every natural
gratification whilst on earth. By the end of the fourth century
the passion for the mortification of the flesh had risen to such a
height that almost one half of the population of the Empire, male
and female, had abandoned civilized life and devoted themselves to
celibacy and ascetic practices.[1041] By choice, and even by legal
prescription,[1042] they sought desert places and vast solitudes to
pass their lives in sordid discomfort, at one time grazing like wild
beasts, at another immured in noisome cells too narrow to admit of any
restful position of the body or limbs.[1043] Some joined the class of
stylites, or pillar saints, who lived in the air at a considerable
altitude from the ground on the bare top of a slender column.[1044]
Such were the anchorites or hermits, who arose first in order of time
and claimed for their founder an illiterate though well-born youth of
Alexandria,[1045] Anthony, the subject of familiar legends. A little
later, however, Pachomius,[1046] also an Egyptian, instituted the
coenobites, or gregarious fraternity of ascetics, whose assemblage of
cells, called a _laura_, was generally disposed in a circle around
their common chapel and refectory. The extensive waste lands of Egypt
greatly favoured the development of monachism; and within half a
century the isle of Tabenna in the Nile, the Nitrian mountain, and
the wilderness of Sketis, became densely populated with these fanatic
recluses.[1047] From Egypt the mania for leading a monastic life spread
in all directions, and religious houses, on the initiative of Basil,
began to invade the towns and suburban districts.[1048] One of the most
remarkable of these foundations was the monastery of Studius, erected
at Constantinople (in 460) for the _Acoemeti_, or sleepless monks,
whose devotional vigils were ceaseless both night and day.[1049] After
the promotion of Christianity to be the state religion, one emperor
only, the ordinarily ineffective Valens, assumed a hostile attitude
towards the monks.[1050] He denounced them as slothful renegades from
their social duties and dispatched companies of soldiers to expel them
from their retreats and reclaim them for civil and military life. A
considerable number were massacred for attempting resistance to the
decree; but under the successors of Valens monachism flourished as
before with the Imperial countenance and the popular regard.[1051]
The supersession of dogmatic religions founded on prehistoric
mythologies by the success of modern research, confers the right of
free speculation on contemporary philosophers, and urges them to
construct, from the ample materials at their command, an intellectual
theory of the universe. In proportion as experimental physics teaches
us to apprehend more profoundly the constitution of matter, reason
advances impulsively from the outposts of knowledge to suspend itself
over the abyss in those dimly-lighted regions where science and
mysticism seem to hold each other by the hand. The atomic conception
of nature, first broached as a phantasy by the Greeks, derives an
actuality from the growth of chemical and electrical discoveries at
the present day, which goes far to establish it as an immediate, if
not the ultimate, explanation of phenomena. Our mind has thus been
prepared to realize the vision of swarms of atoms in the possession
of limitless space, each one of which is instinct in the prime
degree with all the attributes of life: with consciousness, will,
motion, the bias of habit, and an unquenchable desire for association
and aggregation.[1052] They become conjoined, numerically and
morphologically, in progressive grades of complexity, originating by
one kind of alliance the chemical elements which constitute the organic
world, and by another the vital elements, which form the protoplasmic
basis of animal and plant life.[1053] The organic kingdom rests
upon the inorganic, and preys upon it, evolving itself throughout
endless time into more highly differentiated forms by its incessant
appetite for material acquisition and sensuous stimulation in its
environment.[1054]
Whilst the records of ages assiduously collated from every quarter
of the globe exhibit the irrepressible folly of undisciplined human
thought and the immeasurable credulity of ignorance, the boundless
expansion of our intellectual horizon compels us to reject as
irrational, the belief in an almighty and intelligent Father, who
regards with equanimity the disruption of worlds, but is capable of
being delighted by a choir of fulsome praise emanating from their
ephemeral inhabitants.[1055] From the earliest times the infertile
efforts to approach and win the favour of such a being have
constituted the heaviest drag on civilization and progress; and, as man
rises in the sphere of rationality, the highest lesson he can learn
is to discard definitively all such dreams. He must convince himself
that there is nothing divine, nothing supernatural, no providence
but his own, that prayer is futile, piety impossible; and the sage
may postulate that humanity is God until some higher divinity be
discovered. The mythological terrors of antiquity are effete in the
world of to-day, and any citizen who has learned to live uprightly
should be above all religion, and free from the bondage of every
superstition. By self-reliance and his own exertions alone can man be
led upwards; his advancement depends on the extent to which he can
penetrate the mystery of, and subdue the forces which surround him; and
to preach the dominion of man over nature is the work of the modern
prophet or apostle.[1056] By a retrospect of the past he is justified
in cherishing the hope of a brighter future for his descendants; no
obstacle appears in view to bar their journey along the upward path;
the illimitable capacity of protoplasm for physiological elevation may
triumph over the universal cycle of birth, maturity, and decay; and
in humanity as it exists we may see the progenitors of an infinitely
superior, perhaps of an immortal race, the ultimate expression and end
of evolution and generation.[1057]
The student of European civilization cannot fail to wonder what
sociological manifestation would have taken the place of Christianity
had that religion never seen the light, or failed to win a predominant
position in the Graeco-Roman world. Was the disintegration of the
Empire, he must ask, and the retreat of its inhabitants almost to
the threshold of barbarism a result of the prevalence of the Gospel
creed? or was the new faith merely a fortuitous phenomenon which became
conspicuous on the surface of an uncontrollable social cataclysm? No
decision could be accepted as incontestable when dealing with such
far-reaching questions, but with the wisdom which follows the event we
may recognize that contingencies not very remote might have altered
materially the course of history. The dissolution of powerful political
organizations was no new feature in the ancient world; in Egypt, in
Asia, dynasties with their dominions had periodically collapsed,
but in Europe the Roman supremacy was the first to consolidate the
principal countries into a compact and homogeneous state. Civil wars,
however, had been waged on several occasions; princes unfit to reign
had been the cause of serious administrative perturbation. Did these
vicissitudes, we may inquire, herald the break-up of the Empire,
unassailable as it was by any civilized adversary? Had the national
genius and vigour so declined that armies could not be recruited to
repeat the successes of Marius, of Trajan, of Diocletian, against
hordes of barbarians ill-disciplined and ill-armed? The proposition
cannot be entertained; the individuals were as capable as ever, but
the purview of life had changed. Religious dissension had engendered
personal rancour, neighbour distrusted neighbour, and the name of Roman
no longer denoted a community with kindred feelings and aspirations.
The Persian and the Teuton beyond the border were not more hostile
to the subjects of the Empire than were they among themselves when
viewed as separate groups of Pagans, of Manichaeans, of Arians, and
of Catholics. This disseverance was not, however, quite permanent;
after a couple of generations had passed away a partial reunion was
effected by the submission of all classes to Christianity; and strife
was limited to controversies between differing sects of the same
church. But in the process mankind were led to break with all past
traditions; the world became effete in their eyes; and to be released
from it in order to gain admission to the celestial sphere was preached
as the sole object of human existence. Civilization succumbed to the
despotic influence of religion, a new field of effort was opened to
the race of mortals, and all the genius of the age was exhausted in
the attempt to advance the pseudo-science of theology. That genius
was as brilliant as any which has hitherto been seen upon the earth.
The administrative and literary powers of a Tertullian, an Origen,
a Cyprian, a Eusebius, an Athanasius, of the Gregories, of Basil,
Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom, and many others might have raised the
Empire above the level of the most glorious period of the past. It is
scarcely an exaggeration to say that these ecclesiastics founded a
dominion which surpassed that of Rome in its widest extent; but it was
a dominion over men’s minds which precipitated material progress into
a gulf out of which it was not to rise again for more than a thousand
years. Their success was facilitated by the confirmation of despotism
and the abolition of free institutions under the first Caesars; but
without Christianity there would probably have been no exacerbation of
religious fervour more intense than was involved in Neoplatonism. That
new departure in polytheism was not likely to have caused a serious
drain upon the energies of the state. Julian, its most impassioned
votary, was not less imbued with the spirit of a conqueror than were
Alexander and Trajan.[1058] Neoplatonism, and especially Manichaeism,
borrowed Christian elements and might not have aspired to more than
a passive influence but for their rivalry with that religion. From
these considerations we may draw the inference that only for the
Palestinian capture of the psychical yearnings of the age history might
never have had to record the lapse of social Europe into the slough
of mediaevalism; and the experience of a terrestrial hierarch who
should give laws to kings and incite the masses to rebel against their
political rulers would have been lost to Western civilization. That
the Empire would have subsisted until modern times is inconceivable;
the tendency to disruption of the vast fabric soon became apparent,
and its unity was only restored by reconquest on several occasions;
notably by Severus, by Constantine, by Theodosius. Under Diocletian it
was virtually transformed into a number of federated states; and by
the sixth or seventh century a somewhat similar partition might have
become definite and permanent. With the maintenance of sociological
institutions at the original level, barbarism would have been repelled
and civilization would have penetrated more rapidly the forests of
Scythia and Germany. The spirit of scientific inquiry which was
manifest in Strabo, in Pliny, in Ptolemy, in Galen, might have been
fostered and extended; and many a leading mind, whose vigour was
absorbed by the arid waste of theology, might have taken up the work
of Aristotle and carried his researches into the heart of contemporary
science.[1059] The condition of the proletariat was not elevated by
the diffusion of the Gospel after their wholesale acceptance of it had
been assured by coercion. Whatever ethical purity may have adorned the
lives of the first converts, Christianity as an established religion
was not less of a grovelling superstition than Paganism in its worst
forms. The worship of martyrs, of saints, the factitious miracles
wrought at their graves, the veneration of their relics and images,
were but a travesty of polytheism under another name without the saving
graces of the old belief.[1060] A large section of the community were
encouraged to fritter away their lives in the sloth of the cloister;
and the ecclesiastical murder, disguised under the charge of heresy,
of opponents who dared to think and speak became a social terror in
grim contrast with the easy tolerance of Pagan times.[1061] At length
the night of superstition began to wane and the unexpected advent of
a brighter era was announced by a great social upheaval. Again the
tide of cosmopolitanism began to flow between the Atlantic and the
Euphrates, and a new unification of the detached fragments of the
Roman Empire was brought about. Amid the turmoil of two centuries of
barren Crusades[1062] the active intercourse of numerous peoples taught
Europe to think and judge; and she began to appraise the harvest which
had been reaped during so long a period of blind devotion to a creed.
The result of the scrutiny was disheartening; the store of gold was
found to have turned to dross; and, while one type of man struggled to
break the chains which bound them in spiritual subjection, another
bent their minds to discover whether through nature and art they could
not reach some goal worthy of human ambition. The Renaissance and
the Reformation were almost contemporary movements.[1063] From that
period to the present, more than five centuries, the history of the
world has been one of continued advancement. Since Dante composed his
great poem and Copernicus elaborated his theory of the heavens, the
well of literature has not run dry nor has the lamp of science been
extinguished. Yet in all these years while the rising light has been
breaking continuously over the mountain tops the spacious valleys
beneath have lain buried in the gloom of unenlightened ages. The peace
of society has never ceased to be disturbed by the discord of religious
factions; and the task of a modern statesman is still to reconcile
conflicting prejudices in a world of ignorance and folly.[1064]
CHAPTER III
BIRTH AND FORTUNES OF THE ELDER JUSTIN: THE ORIGINS OF JUSTINIAN
The function of a government is to administer the affairs of mankind in
accordance with the spirit of the age. Not from the political arena,
but from the laboratory emanates that expansion of knowledge which
surely, though fitfully, changes the aspect and methods of civilization
both in peace and war. An impulse which controls the passions of
millions may originate with some obscure investigator who reveals a
more immediate means to individual or national advantage; and the
executive of government is called on to create legislative facilities
for the utilization of the new discovery. During the modern period
such influences have been continuous and paramount. In the course
of a single century a transformation of the world has been achieved
by fruitful research, greater than in all previously recorded time.
The Georgian era contrasts less strongly with the times of Aristotle
and Cicero than with the present day; and the rapid progress of the
nineteenth century almost throws the age of Johnson and Gibbon into the
shadow of mediaevalism.
Far back in the prehistoric past a bridge was thrown across the chasm
which separates savage from civilized life by the discovery of a
process for the smelting of metallic ore; and the birth of all the arts
may be dated from the time when some primitive race passed from the age
of stone into that of bronze or iron. To the ancient world that first
step in science must have appeared also to be the last; and ages rolled
away during which man learned no more than to employ effectively the
materials thus acquired. If the expectation that diligent research may
be rewarded by some signal increase of knowledge be excluded from the
sphere of human activity, individual aspirations must be restricted
to whatever is social and national; and those desirous of distinction
have no choice but to devote themselves to art or politics. Within
these channels were confined the energies of the people of antiquity;
in some states the leading characteristic was civic adornment; in
others the cultivation of martial efficiency; to rise to despotic
power was the usual ambition of a democratic statesman; to attain to
an imperial position that of a flourishing state. Wars of aggression
were constantly undertaken, and defensive wars uniformly became so
whenever superiority was manifested. Such conflicts in the past have
had no permanent influence on the advancement of mankind; and from time
to time have been equally conducive to the spread of civilization or
barbarism. During the classical period the arts and learning of Athens
were attendant on the success of the Grecian or the Roman arms; in the
Middle Ages the Goth, the Hun, the Saracen, and the Tartar closed in on
the Roman Empire and nullified the work of those enlightened nations.
At the present day the advance of civilization, though independent of
conquest, is often hastened by aggression;[1065] and there seems no
likelihood that it will ever again recede from a territory where it
has once been established. At all times scarcity of the necessaries
of life, real or conventional, tends to initiate a contest; nor is
it possible to foresee an age when, in the absence of a struggle for
existence, the world will subside into a condition of perpetual peace.
In the sixth century, among the Byzantines, the public mind was still
oppressed with a sense of the supreme importance of religion. That
orthodox Christianity must prevail remained the passion of the day; and
in the view of each dissentient sect their creed alone was orthodox.
Hence government became an instrument of hierarchy, politics synonymous
with sectarianism, and the chief business of the state was to eradicate
heresy. Mediaevalism was created by this spirit; in the East the
Emperor became a pope;[1066] in the West the Pope was to become a
sovereign. The conception of being ruled from the steps of an altar was
foreign to the genius of classical antiquity, and Christianity almost
effected a reversal of the political spirit of the ancient world.
In the midsummer of 518 occurred the death of Anastasius,[1067] one
of the few capable and moderate Emperors whom the Byzantines produced.
Although imbued with a heresy by his mother,[1068] and zealous for
its acceptance,[1069] he refrained from persecution, and declared
that he would not shed a drop of blood to effect the removal of his
ecclesiastical opponents.[1070] All his efforts were conciliatory,
and he would have obliterated disunion in the Church if his influence
could have induced fanaticism to accord in the Henoticon of Zeno.[1071]
He dealt impartially with the Demes, but inclined slightly to one
faction, the Green, in formal compliance with traditional usage in
the Circus.[1072] He relieved oppressive taxation,[1073] restrained
extravagance, and, though practising thrift,[1074] responded liberally
to every genuine application.[1075] His administration was much admired
by those who were free from sectarian prejudice;[1076] and even
the bigoted adherents of the Chalcedonian synod cannot avoid being
eulogistic when recounting some of his measures.[1077]
Within the Byzantine province of Dardania, to the south of modern
Servia, was situated the municipal town of Scupi,[1078] in a plain
almost contained by a mountainous amphitheatre, consisting of the
Scardus chain, and its connections with the greater ranges of Pindus
and Haemus.[1079] Among its dependent villages, lying along the banks
of the Axius or Vardar, the river of the plain, were the hamlets of
Bederiana and Tauresium.[1080] Under Roman rule the language and
manners of Latium became indigenous to this region; and, although
the barbarians in their periodical inroads poured through the passes
of Scardus on the north-west to spread themselves over Thrace and
Macedonia,[1081] the Latinized stock still maintained its ground in the
fifth century.[1082] Throughout the Empire it was a usual practice for
sons of the free peasantry to abandon agricultural penury, and, without
a change of clothing, provided only with a wallet containing a few days
provisions, to betake themselves on foot to the capital, in the hope
of chancing on better fortune.[1083] About the year 470, when Leo the
Thracian occupied the throne, a young herdsman of Bederiana, bearing
the classical name of Justin, resolved on this enterprise, and arrived
at Constantinople with two companions whose lot had been similar to his
own.[1084] There they presented themselves for enlistment in the army,
and, as the three youths were distinguished by a fine physique, they
were gladly accepted, and enrolled among the palace guards.[1085] Two
of them are lost to our view for ever afterwards in the obscurity of
a private soldier’s life,[1086] but Justin, though wholly illiterate,
entered on a successful military career. At the end of a score of
years he reappears under Anastasius, with the rank of a general, and
intrusted with a subordinate command in the Isaurian war.[1087] A
decade later he is again heard of among those who prosecuted the siege
of Amida, which led to its recovery from the Persians;[1088] and before
the death of the Emperor he becomes conspicuous at head-quarters,
with the dignities of a Patrician, a Senator, and of Commander of the
household troops.[1089] While holding this office he was also deputed
to a command at sea, and took an active part in repelling the naval
attack of Vitalian.[1090]
During the vicissitudes of his life in the camp, Justin remained
unmarried and childless, but he became the purchaser of a barbarian
captive, named Lupicina, whom he retained as a concubine, and never
afterwards repudiated.[1091] While, however, he was rising to a
position of importance and affluence, he was not unmindful of those
relatives from whom he had separated at his native place. At Tauresium
dwelt a sister,[1092] the wife of one Sabbatius,[1093] and the
mother of two children, a son and a daughter.[1094] As soon as young
Sabbatius,[1095] for the nephew of Justin bore his father’s name, had
arrived at a suitable age, he was invited to the capital by his uncle,
who became his guardian, and had him educated in a manner befitting
a youth of high rank.[1096] On the completion of his studies, it was
natural that Sabbatius should be claimed for military service, wherein
his guardian’s influence was centred, and he was drafted forthwith into
the ranks of the Candidati or bodyguards of the Emperor.[1097] Finally
Justin legally adopted Sabbatius;[1098] and in token of the fact the
latter assumed the derivative name of Justinian.[1099]
On the death of Anastasius, as at his accession, the Grand Chamberlain
appeared to be master of the situation.[1100] But the chief eunuch of
the day, Amantius, was less influential than his predecessor, Urbicius,
who, with the Empress Ariadne as an ally, had invested the popular
silentiary with the purple; and the means he devised to ensure the
acceptance of his candidate were the actual cause of his rejection.
He decided to bribe the palace guards to proclaim his favourite,
Count Theocritus, and placed a large sum of money in the hands of
Justin for that purpose; but the procedure only served to render
those soldiers conscious of their power to elect an emperor, and they
immediately acclaimed their own commandant as the fittest occupant
of the throne.[1101] The venerable Justin, for he was now long past
three score, did not decline; the Senate bowed to the nomination of
the guards, and the former herdsman took his place in line with the
successors of Augustus.[1102]
The Emperor Justin was a rude soldier, devoid of administrative
capacity except in relation to military affairs, and so illiterate
that he could only append his sign-manual to a document by passing his
pen through the openings in a plate perforated so as to indicate the
first four letters of his name.[1103] After his coronation he married
Lupicina; and the populace, while accepting her as his consort, renamed
her Euphemia.[1104] On his accession Justin promoted his nephew to the
rank of Patrician[1105] and Nobilissimus;[1106] and Justinian became
so closely associated with his uncle that he was generally regarded
as the predominant partner in ruling the state.[1107] But the Emperor
was jealous of his authority, and when the Senate petitioned that the
younger man should be formally recognized as his colleague, he grasped
his robe and answered, “Be on your guard against any young man having
the right to wear this garment.”[1108] Owing to the suddenness of their
elevation both princes were ignorant of the routine of government,
a circumstance which rendered the position of Proclus, the Quaestor
or private adviser of the crown, peculiarly influential during this
reign.[1109]
The first act of Justin, who adhered to the orthodox creed, was to
reverse the temporizing religious policy of Anastasius; and he at
once prepared an edict to render the Council of Chalcedon compulsory
in all the churches. Amantius, Theocritus, and their party saw in
this measure an opportunity of disputing the unforeseen succession,
the overthrow of which they were eager to accomplish. A conspiracy
was hastily organized, and the malcontents assembled in one of the
principal churches, where they entered on a public denunciation of
the new dynasty. The movement, however, was ill supported, and Justin
with military promptness seized the chiefs of the opposition, executed
several, including the eunuch and his satellite, and banished the
others to some distant part.[1110] The edict was then issued and a
ruthless persecution instituted against all recalcitrants throughout
the Asiatic provinces, where ecclesiastics of every grade professing
the monophysite heresy were put to death in great numbers.[1111] At
the same time the Emperor recalled those extremists whom Anastasius
had been unable to mollify and restored them to their former or to
similar appointments.[1112] One danger still remained which might at
any moment subvert the newly erected throne; the powerful Vitalian
was at large, apparently, if not in reality, master of the forces in
Thrace and Illyria. Emissaries were therefore dispatched to him with an
invitation to reside at Constantinople as the chief military supporter
of the government.[1113] He accepted the proposals, stipulating that
an assurance of good faith should previously be given with religious
formalities. The parties met in the church of St. Euphemia, at
Chalcedon,[1114] and there Justin, Justinian, and Vitalian pledged
themselves to each other with solemn oaths while they partook of the
Christian sacraments.[1115] The rebel general was, however, too weighty
a personage to subside into the position of a tame subordinate, and
his masterful presence threatened to nullify the authority of the
Emperor and his nephew.[1116] His ascendancy was endured for more than
a twelvemonth, and the consulship of 520 was conceded to him. But while
he celebrated the games in the Hippodrome popular enthusiasm in his
favour rose to a dangerous height.[1117] The Court became alarmed, and
a hasty resolution was arrived at to do away with him. In the interval
of the display he repaired to the palace with two of his lieutenants
to be entertained at a collation, and on entering the banqueting hall
they were attacked by a company of Justinian’s satellites,[1118]
and Vitalian fell pierced with a multitude of wounds.[1119] Shortly
afterwards Justinian succeeded to his place and was created a Master of
Soldiers, with the virtual rank of commander-in-chief of the Imperial
forces.[1120] The next year he was raised to the consulship[1121] and,
in order to consolidate his popularity, he determined to signalize the
occasion by those lavish festivities which were recorded from time to
time among the wonders of the age. But times had changed since the
Roman public might be edified or disgraced by those spectacles in which
human and animal combatants fought to the death, in mimic land and sea
warfare or hunting encounters, to the number of many thousands; and
the chronicler, in referring to a half-hundred of lions and pards,
evolutions of mail-clad horses, and an increased largess of scattered
coin, in addition to the usual races, bear-baiting, and theatrical
shows, thinks he indicates sufficiently how far the Consul of the day
surpassed the ordinary expectations of the Byzantine populace.[1122]
Having finally won over the capital by these gratifications, Justinian
in his military capacity departed on a tour for the inspection of
garrisons and fortresses throughout the East.[1123] During this period
he made the palace of Hormisdas his official residence.[1124]
The reign of Justin was uneventful politically, the age of the
Autocrator and his incapacity for state affairs precluding the
initiation of any reforms of importance; whilst, although the
foreign relations of the Empire were often in a state of tension,
no considerable hostilities were undertaken.[1125] At home official
activity was chiefly engrossed with the planning of police precautions
for the repression of sedition. During three or four years all the
chief cities were agitated by the turbulence of the Blue faction,
which sought to suppress their rivals of the Green by stoning,
assassination, and wrecking of their dwellings. At length, in 523, the
rioters were subdued by the appointment of special Praefects, whose
severity of character did not shrink from making the culprits pay the
extreme penalty of the law.[1126] With its neighbours of the East
and West the Empire might have existed at this period on terms of
perfect amity but for the disturbing influence of religion. Incensed
at Justin’s oppressive treatment of the Arians, Theodoric, the Gothic
king, declared that he would exterminate the Catholics in Italy[1127]
if freedom of belief were not granted to his co-religionists; and
he compelled Pope John I to lead an embassy to Constantinople with
the object of pleading the cause of those heretics at the Byzantine
court. John, the first of his line to visit New Rome, was received
with enthusiasm by the orthodox Emperor;[1128] but, if the head of
the Western Church urged his appeal with sincerity, Justin at least
proved obdurate, and no concession to the Arians could be extorted
from his bigotry. The Pope returned to Ravenna, the regal seat of the
barbarian king, to expiate his abortive mission by being incarcerated
for the last few months of his life; and the death of Theodoric shortly
afterwards, before he had time to execute his threats, saved Italy from
becoming the scene of brutal reprisals.[1129]
The interspace between the Caspian Sea and the Euxine, the modern
Transcaucasia, was inhabited by semi-savage races, over whom Rome
and Persia preferred almost equal claims to suzerainty. A perpetual
source of friction between the two powers in this region arose from
the necessity of guarding the Caspian Gates,[1130] now the Pass of
Darial,[1131] a practicable gorge through the Caucasus, often traversed
by the Scythian hordes when carrying their devastations to the south.
Alexander is said to have blocked the entry with an iron barrier,[1132]
and subsequently the pass was kept by the Romans until the Sassanian
dynasty became predominant in those parts. The utility to both nations,
however, of maintaining the defence, caused the Persians, after the
collapse of Julian’s expedition, to demand that the Romans should share
the expense.[1133] Theodosius I bought off the claims, but by the time
of Anastasius a Hunnish king, in friendly league with that emperor, had
obtained possession of the forts.[1134] On his death they passed to
the Persians, with the consent of Anastasius, who engaged vaguely to
contribute annually.[1135] Justin tried to evade this payment, but the
Persian monarch declined to be put off, and, as often as the Emperor
fell into arrears, proceeded to recover the amount by distraint.[1136]
His chosen bailiff, whenever he put in an execution, was a ferocious
sheik of the Saracens, named Alamundar,[1137] who raided Syria up
to the walls of Antioch, massacring the population indiscriminately,
and holding captives of substance against their being replevied by
the Romans.[1138] On one occasion he burst into the city of Emesa,
and finding there four hundred virgins congregated in a church, he
sacrificed them all on the same day to Al Uzzâ, the Arabian Venus.[1139]
In two states of the Caucasian region, both under kingly rule,
Christianity had gained a footing about the time of Constantine.[1140]
Lazica, previously Colchis, the subject of heroic legends, and now
Mingrelia, occupied the coast of the Black Sea north and south of
the river Phasis. On its eastern border, watered by the Cyrus, lay
Iberia, at present known as Georgia.[1141] In 522 the young king of
the Lazi, alarmed lest the Persian religion should be forced on him,
fled to Constantinople, and prayed for Christian baptism under the
immediate countenance of the Emperor. Justin assented, and not only
sustained him at the sacred font, but afterwards united him to a Roman
wife, the daughter of one of the patricians of his court. Before his
departure Tzathus was formally invested with ornaments and robes of
state, expressly designed to denote the closeness of his relationship
to Justin and to Rome.[1142] A letter of remonstrance against
surreptitiously tampering with the allegiance of Persian subjects soon
resulted from these proceedings; but Justin denied their political
significance, and dwelt with fanatical insistence on the exigences of
the faith, and the urgency of resisting heathen error.[1143] The throne
of Persia was still occupied by Cavades,[1144] and that monarch now
began to think seriously of going to war with Rome. On reviewing his
resources he decided to enlist the Hunnish tribes, who dwelt beyond
the Caucasus, as allies against the Empire. One of the most powerful
chiefs agreed to his proposals, and met him by prearrangement with a
large following of his nation, but during the conference messengers
arrived who protested that a short time previously the Hun had been
induced by a large subsidy to pledge his support to the Byzantines. “We
are at peace,” said Justin, “and should not allow ourselves to be duped
by these dogs.” In reply to an amicable inquiry the barbarian boasted
shamelessly of the circumstance, whereupon Cavades, convinced of his
treachery, at once ordered him to be cut down by his guards. Forthwith
a night attack was secretly planned against his forces, who, without
becoming aware of the author of the calamity, were dispersed and
slain to the number of many thousands.[1145] More friendly counsels
now began to prevail with the Persian, as it occurred to him that he
might compose his differences with the Emperor to his own advantage.
He was extremely anxious to secure the succession to his favourite son
Chosroes,[1146] to the exclusion of his two elder brothers. There was
reason to fear, however, that on his decease, by the intervention of
the Court or the populace, one of the senior princes might be raised
to the throne. Cavades, therefore, proposed to Justin that he should
adopt Chosroes, considering that no party would have the temerity to
dispute the tiara with a ward of the Empire. Justin and Justinian were
elated at the prospect of exercising a controlling influence in Persian
affairs, but the Quaestor Proclus quickly intervened, and by specious
arguments, led them to see the matter in a totally different light.
The adoption of the Sassanian prince, he urged with heat, would convey
to him a title to inherit the crown of the Empire, Justinian might be
ousted from the succession, and Justin would live in dread of being the
last of the Roman emperors.[1147] An evasive course was resolved on,
and a commission was dispatched to meet the Persian delegates in the
vicinity of Nisibis. Chosroes himself advanced to the Tigris in the
expectation of being escorted to Constantinople by the Roman envoys.
The representatives of the two nations met without cordiality, and
the Persians, contrary to their instructions, began by taunting the
Byzantines with having usurped their rights in Lazica. The Romans
then announced that the Emperor could not adopt a foreigner with legal
formalities, but only by an act of arms, such as was customary among
barbarians. The suggestion was taken as a deliberate insult by the
Persians; the colloquy came to an end abruptly, and Chosroes returned
to his father, vowing vengeance against the Romans.[1148]
It was now evident that war at no distant date could scarcely be
averted, but a further embroilment with respect to religion provoked
overt hostilities, which rendered a positive conflict inevitable.
Having experienced that defection to Rome was a natural sequence of
Christianity being promulgated in his dependencies, Cavades determined
to enforce Magism among the Iberians. But, at the first intimation,
the king of that people made an earnest appeal to Justin, and prepared
to take up arms in defence of his faith. The Emperor responded by
sending two of his generals,[1149] provided with a large sum of money,
to levy auxiliaries for the Iberians, among the Huns who inhabited the
northern shores of the Euxine.[1150] Such was the practical overture
to a war with Persia, which was to last for several years, without any
appreciable gain to either side. During the reign of Justin, however,
hostilities were carried on in a desultory manner, and no battle of
any magnitude was fought. Military detachments were told off to ravage
Persian territory to the north, in the vicinity of the frontier. They
were opposed by similar bands of the enemy, and from time to time
indecisive skirmishes took place. As to Iberia, that country was
abandoned for the time being, the forces raised being insufficient
to withstand the Persian host, and the king with all the native
magnates retreated into Lazica by a narrow pass, called the Iberian
Gates, which was then fortified by a Byzantine garrison.[1151] During
these operations the first mention occurs of some names which became
associated later on with the most notable events in the annals of the
age. An advance into Persarmenia was conducted by two young officers,
specially deputed by Justinian, named Sittas and Belisarius. After
the lapse of a few months (in 527) the latter was transferred to a
more important command at Daras. There, among the civil members of his
staff, he received the future historian Procopius as his legal adviser
or assessor.[1152] About the same time occurred the death of Justin,
whose reign lasted for nine years and a few weeks.
If the sea of politics remained comparatively unruffled in Justin’s
time, nature made amends for the lack of excitement by showing
herself physically in her most active mode. His reign opened with the
appearance of a remarkable comet, the most dreaded portent of impending
disaster.[1153] Nor were the forebodings belied, as the provinces on
both continents were afflicted progressively with violent earthquakes,
intensified by volcanic phenomena.[1154] In Europe, Dyrrachium, the
birthplace of Anastasius, recently adorned by him at great cost, was
overthrown; and Corinth shortly after experienced a similar fate. In
Asia, Anazarbus, the capital of Cilicia, suffered; the central half
of Pompeiopolis sunk into the earth;[1155] and Edessa was ruined by a
flood of the river Scirtus.[1156] The withdrawal of large sums from
the Imperial treasury was entailed by the restoration of these cities.
This series of calamities culminated in the almost total destruction
of Antioch, where the seismological disturbances persisted for more
than a year, the eighth of Justin’s reign, and upwards of a quarter
of a million of the inhabitants perished.[1157] The ground was rifted
in all directions with great gaps which ejected flames; the houses
caught fire or collapsed with their occupants into the yawning chasms;
and a hill of considerable size, overhanging the city, was shattered
with such violence that the streets and buildings in that quarter lay
buried beneath a uniform surface formed by the debris.[1158] The
preliminary shocks were generally disregarded, and the climax, which
occurred during the dinner hour,[1159] was so sudden and widespread,
that the bulk of the population was overwhelmed before they had a
chance to escape. Then only the residue of the citizens made a rush
for the open country, carrying with them whatever valuables they could
seize on in their hasty flight. As soon, however, as they had arrived
at a safe distance, they found themselves beset by bands of rustics,
who had gathered together from every side in order to plunder the
fugitives. Conspicuous among the despoilers was a certain Thomas, a man
with the rank of a silentiary, and wealthy enough to keep a private
guard. Posting himself daily in a convenient position, he directed his
retainers in the operation of stripping systematically all who came in
their way. It is satisfactory to learn from the contemporary historian
that all these wretches were soon overtaken by a miserable death, as
the penalty of their inhumanity; but as we are assured that, without
legal intervention, their retribution emanated from an indignant
providence, which had impelled, or, at least, lain dormant during the
catastrophe, we must conclude that the Nemesis was desiderated rather
than real. The assertion, however, need not be questioned that the
said Thomas died suddenly, to the great joy of the survivors, on the
fourth day of his nefarious enterprise. Great consolation was also
derived from the preternatural appearance of a cross in the clouds;
and all burst into tears and supplications at this signal proof of
the compassion felt for them by a beneficent Deity. In two or three
weeks after the crisis, nature assumed her wonted quiescence, and the
deserted city began to be re-peopled by the returning inhabitants. The
work of restoration at once commenced; and it is recorded that many
persons were then rescued by being dug out of the ruins, under which
they had been buried; among them numbers of women, who in the meantime
had passed safely through the pangs of childbirth.[1160] As soon as
the news of the downfall of Antioch was carried to Constantinople,
the capital was thrown into a state of consternation, and all public
festivities for the season of Whitsuntide, which was at hand, were
renounced. The Emperor, discarding all regal pomp, debased himself
in sackcloth and ashes,[1161] and led a suppliant procession of the
Senate, wearing mourning garments, to the church of St. John at the
Hebdomon. Commissioners were immediately dispatched with ample funds
for reparation, and the ruined city again became visible on the face
of the earth with a rapidity which, in the words of a writer of the
period, gave the impression that it had reappeared suddenly out of the
infernal regions.[1162] But the earthquakes continued and ultimately,
as a safeguard against further visitations of the kind, Antioch was
demised to the special care of the Deity by being renamed Theopolis, or
the City of God.[1163]
The desultory war with Persia was maintained all the time under the
chief command of Licelarius, a Thracian. But that general, while
pushing hostilities over the border into the vicinity of Nisibis,
managed so unskilfully that his whole forces were seized with a panic
and fled back to Roman territory without ever having sighted an enemy.
As an immediate result Licelarius was disgraced and Belisarius promoted
to fill his place. The youth, as he must be called, fulfilled the
expectations he inspired and thenceforward entered on that career of
achievement which was to render him the military hero of his age.
On the 1st of April, 527, Justin formally associated his nephew to
the throne, with the rank of Augustus. He lived exactly four months
afterwards,[1164] and on the 1st of August in the same year the sole
reign of Justinian began.[1165]
CHAPTER IV
PRE-IMPERIAL CAREER OF THEODORA: THE CONSORT OF JUSTINIAN
The influence of women in antiquity varied extremely according to
circumstances of time and place. During the mythical age they are
celebrated as the heroines of many a legend; and in the epics of
Homer the free woman seems to live on terms of equality with her male
relations.[1166] Down to the historical period the same consideration
was continued to them at Sparta, where the mental and physical
integrity of the females was cultivated as essential to the designed
superiority of the race;[1167] but among the Athenians we find the
women of the community ignored as factors in the state to such an
extent, that they rank little higher than domesticated animals.[1168]
In neither of these states, however, were they ever invested with any
political office; and their power could only be felt indirectly by the
executive as the result of their activity as wives and mothers in the
family circle.[1169] But outside Greece, in those wider territories
more or less permeated by Hellenes, women sometimes attained to a full
share of government, inherited or assumed a sovereignty on the death
of their husbands, commanded armies, and even appeared in martial
attire at the head of their troops. Two Ionian princesses, both of whom
bore the name of Artemisia, reigned in Caria: the elder distinguished
herself at sea as an ally of Xerxes in the naval battle of Salamis
(480 B.C.);[1170] her successor erected the magnificent monument
at Halicarnassus in memory of her husband Mausolus, hence called
the Mausoleum, which was admired as one of the seven wonders of the
world.[1171] Cynane, a daughter of Philip of Macedon, led an expedition
into Illyria, and is said to have killed the queen of that country,
in an engagement which ensued, with her own hand.[1172] This lady
had applied herself vigorously to military exercises, and similarly
trained up her daughter Eurydice in the school of arms. As the wife of
the imbecile Arrhidaeus, one of the successors of Alexander, Eurydice
advanced into Asia to meet Olympias, the mother of that monarch, in
a contest which was to decide the fate of Macedonia. While the young
queen, as we are told, displayed herself with all the attributes of
a female warrior, the dowager chose to accompany her forces with a
train of attendants, who seemed rather to be acting their part in a
Bacchanalian procession.[1173] This war, however, proved ultimately
fatal to all three women, who were merely moved as puppets by the
firmer hands of Alexander’s generals in their rivalry for shares
at the dissolution of his empire.[1174] After the partition of the
extensive dominions of Alexander among his numerous heirs, the number
of Grecian women who enjoyed, or were allied to, sovereign power, was
proportionately increased; and the names of many princesses of varied
distinction in that age have been recorded historically, and even
perpetuated popularly to the present day by towns designated in their
honour, and spread over the three continents.[1175] While some of these
ladies won an unusual share of marital respect and affection, not only
by the graces of their person, but by their capacity for taking part
in the councils of state,[1176] there were not a few who signalized
themselves by a cruelty or criminality hardly exceeded by the male
tyrants of that semi-lawless and contentious epoch. Two Egyptian
princesses, sisters named Cleopatra, were ambitious of occupying the
thrones of Egypt and Syria, respectively, to the exclusion of their own
sons. The Syrian queen, having murdered one of her sons, was obliged
to accept his brother as a colleague, but being unable to nullify
his authority, resolved to make away with him also. On his return
from military drill one day, she presented him with a poisoned cup,
which, however, he declined to empty, having had an intimation of her
design, and bade her swallow the draught herself. She refused, while
denying her guilt, but he insisted that in no other way could she clear
herself, and she thus fell a victim to her intended treachery.[1177]
Her sister, who reigned in Egypt, under almost similar circumstances
was not more fortunate; for, having expelled one of her sons and
committed various cruelties, she raised another to a partnership in the
kingdom. Finding still that her ascendancy could not be maintained, she
planned to assassinate him, but, being forestalled, perished herself in
the attempt.[1178] Precocious in guilt, but, perhaps, more excusable,
was the Cyrenean princess Berenice, who caused her intended husband
to be murdered in the arms of her own mother, as the penalty of his
having slighted her for this adulterous intercourse.[1179] Her name
has been preserved to us in the nomenclature of science, and through
an astronomical compliment a cluster of stars is still distinguished
as the Coma Berenices.[1180] From these few examples the reader may
derive some notion of the social relations of the ruling families in
that extended Greek realm which came into being as the result of the
conquests of Alexander. One by one the separate autonomies succumbed to
the force of the Latin arms, and before the beginning of the Christian
era all of them which lay to the west of the Euphrates had become
merged in the provincial system of the Roman Empire.
When we turn our attention to the Roman Republic, we find that the
females, although in law subjected absolutely to the will of their male
relatives,[1181] were virtually as influential in the state as were the
women at Sparta. From Cloelia[1182] to Portia[1183] the maidens and
matrons of that community displayed the spirit and resolution which
we should assume to be characteristic of the wives and sisters of the
men who made themselves gradually the masters of the earth. Nor were
they backward in applying themselves to intellectual pursuits when the
rusticity of the Republic began to be dissipated by the infiltration
of Hellenic culture; and by their assiduous studies in philosophy,
geometry, literature, and music, they kept pace determinedly with the
mental development of the sterner sex.[1184] With the establishment
of the Empire, a greatly enhanced authority became the permanent
endowment of a limited class. It followed naturally that the female
connections of the emperors and their chief ministers could aspire to
participate in the despotic government, but the throne itself always
remained debarred to women, and to the last days of the Empire the
Romans never acquiesced in a female reign. When Agrippina, presuming
on her power over a son whom her intrigues had raised to the throne,
pressed forward amid general amazement to preside as of equal authority
with him at a reception of ambassadors, the philosopher Seneca hastily
impelled the young Emperor to arrest his mother with a respectful
greeting, and thus, in the words of Tacitus, “under the semblance
of filial devotion the impending disgrace was obviated.”[1185] Yet,
in several instances, as the guardian of an immature heir to the
crown, or as the associate of an incapable husband or brother, a
woman was able to retain for a considerable time all the attributes
of monarchy. The Syrian Soaemias, the equal in profligacy of her son
Elagabalus, assumed the reigns of government, and took her seat in
the Senate, which then beheld for the first time a female assisting
at its deliberations.[1186] Her career speedily terminated in
disaster,[1187] but during the break-up of the Western Empire, two
centuries later, no opposition was offered to the predominance of her
sex by a dejected people. The Empress Placidia Galla, after enduring
many misfortunes, exercised a regency scarcely distinguishable from
absolutism for more than a decade, in the name of her son Valentinian
III.[1188] In the East the rule of Pulcheria, as the adviser of her
brother Theodosius II, and afterwards of her nominal husband Marcian,
extended almost to half a century.[1189] The importance of an Augusta
in disposing of the crown on the decease of her husband has been
indicated in the description of the elevation of Anastasius;[1190]
and the official who records the election of Justin, ascribes the
turbulence of the populace on that occasion to the absence of control
by a princess of that rank.[1191] But the power of a dowager empress
was most signally exemplified in the case of Verina, widow of Leo I,
who, in her dissatisfaction with the policy of her son-in-law Zeno,
succeeded in provoking a revolution, placed the chief of her party on
the throne for more than a twelvemonth, and continued to involve the
Empire in bloodshed for a series of years.[1192] Below the Imperial
dignity the feminine element was perpetually active and widely
exerted, especially throughout the provinces. The wives of legates, of
proconsuls or governors, accompanied their husbands on their missions
to distant parts, and were often responsible, both in peace and war,
for the complexion assumed by the local administration.[1193] They
displayed themselves ostentatiously in public, addressed themselves
authoritatively to the army, and instigated measures of finance, to
such an extent that they were sometimes regarded as the moving spirit
in whatever was transacted.[1194] Agrippina shared the hardships
of Germanicus in his campaign against the Germans, opposed herself
to the disorder of the troops when retreating through fear of the
enemy, preserved the bridge over the Rhine, which in their panic
they were about to demolish, and, combining the duties of a general
with those of the intendant of an ambulance, restored confidence to
the legions.[1195] Yet Germanicus, in his Asiatic command, fell a
victim to the machinations of Plancina, the wife of a colleague; and
Agrippina strove ineffectively to withstand the malignant arts of
another woman.[1196] In some instances oppression of the provincials
was clearly traceable to female arrogance and intrigue; and at length
it was seriously proposed in the Senate that no official should be
accompanied by his consort, when deputed to the government of a
province. The motion was hotly debated, but was ultimately lost through
the vehemency of opposition.[1197]
Nothing in antiquity is more remarkable than the diversity of sentiment
as to prostitution among the Greeks. Considering the deification of
amorous passion and fecundity expressed by polytheism in the cult of
Aphrodite, and the ethics of social order which instilled a reverence
for chastity, the popular mind continually wavered as to whether the
_hetaira_ or courtesan should be contemned as an outcast, or adored
as the priestess of a goddess. Among the Semites who dwelt along the
Oriental borders of the Grecian dominions an act of prostitution at
the temple of the goddess of concupiscence was enjoined on every
woman at least once in her life as a religious rite;[1198] but the
nicer ethical discrimination of the Greeks debarred this custom from
ever establishing itself in Hellenic religion. At Corinth, however,
one of the most distinguished art centres of Greece, it obtained a
footing in a modified form; and in that city a thousand female slaves
sacred to Aphrodite were maintained as public courtesans attached to
her temple.[1199] At Athens, Solon regarded the state regulation of
prostitution as an essential safeguard to public morality, whence he
constituted a number of brothels under definite rules throughout the
town, thus providing, in his opinion, an outlet for irrepressible
passions which might otherwise be manifested in a more unseemly
manner.[1200] As in all ages there were two grades of females who led
a life of incontinence for the sake of gain; and of these the higher
class, the hetairas, filled a place not devoid of a certain distinction
in most of the Grecian cities. This class relied not on their personal
attractions only, but also on their mental accomplishments, aspiring
to become the intellectual companions of their lovers by applying
themselves to the study of literature and philosophy.[1201] Hence they
ranked as the best educated women of the community, and exerted more
influence in the state than the usually dull and secluded housewives.
The majority and the most noted of such courtesans flourished, of
course, in Athenian society, the ascendancy of the women which obtained
at Sparta being altogether adverse to their pretensions. Thus it
happened that the hetairas of Athens were generally regarded as persons
of some consequence; and several writers of the period thought it no
unworthy task to compose their biographies, as might be done at the
present day in the case of eminent women.[1202] To the connection of
Aspasia with Pericles and her position as the leader of Athenian
society during his tenure of power, an important page is devoted in all
histories of Greece; and it appears that even matrons were permitted to
frequent her salon in order to improve themselves mentally by listening
to the elevated discourses held there.[1203] Socrates visited Theodote
for the purpose of augmenting his sociological insight, and Xenophon
has included an account of his debate with her in his memoirs of that
father of philosophers.[1204] Leontium was a conspicuous figure in the
garden of Epicurus, where he convened his disciples; and she penned a
treatise against the Peripatetics, which deserved the commendation of
Cicero.[1205] Scarcely, indeed, can a man of note in this age, whether
potentate, orator, philosopher, or poet, be found whose name does not
occur in anecdote or more serious record as the associate of some
hetaira. It follows that courtesans should appear not rarely as the
mothers of persons of distinction. Themistocles, the younger Pericles,
Timotheus, and Nicomachus, the son of Aristotle, are mentioned in
this connection;[1206] and more than one sovereign prince is allowed
to have been the offspring of some hetaira, namely, Arrhidaeus, king
of Macedonia, alluded to above, and Philetaerus, the founder of the
kingdom of Pergamus.[1207] Many of these hetairas realized wealth, and
some had the faculty of keeping it; nor were they disinclined to spend
it patriotically if an opportunity offered. Lamia erected a splendid
portico at Sicyon;[1208] and Phryne proposed to rebuild the walls
of Thebes, which had been levelled by Alexander, provided that the
fact should be commemorated by a suitable inscription. The Thebans,
however, were too proud to owe the restoration of their town to such a
source.[1209] As the result of their notoriety and the consideration
accorded to them, some courtesans won the distinction of living in
metal or marble; and it was remarked that, whilst no wife had been
honoured by a public monument, the memory of hetairas had often been
perpetuated by the statuary.[1210] The reasons, however, why courtesans
happened to be thus distinguished were in many instances totally
dissimilar: some for actual merit, others merely through the caprice of
passionate lovers, challenged the popular eye from a pedestal. Leaena
was represented at Athens under the form of a tongueless lioness,
because she preferred to die by the torture rather than disclose
the conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogeiton against the tyrants of
the day.[1211] Even at Sparta the image of Cottina was a familiar
object, standing beside a brazen cow which she had consecrated to
Athena.[1212] A sculptured tomb to Lais was set up at Corinth,[1213]
and a golden statue of Phryne was dedicated at Delphi,[1214] to express
the admiration of their townsmen for their pre-eminence as venal
beauties. A magnificent cenotaph on the Sacred Way from Athens to
Eleusis surprised a wayfarer into the belief that he was approaching
the tomb of some great general or statesman; it was no more than the
fantasy of Harpalus, an extravagant viceroy of Alexander’s, constructed
in glorification of his deceased mistress, Pythionice.[1215] At Abydos,
a temple to Aphrodite, styled the Prostitute, recorded the patriotic
treachery of a band of loose women, which conduced to the slaughter of
an alien garrison;[1216] but when the degradation of Greece was already
far advanced, both Athens and Thebes descended to flatter Demetrius
Poliorcetes by rearing fanes in honour of his favourite concubine,
Lamia.[1217]
In the earlier centuries of the Republic the strict censorship upheld
at Rome kept the city purged of dissoluteness; and prostitution,
regularly supervised and licensed,[1218] was reduced to the inevitable
minimum; but in proportion as Hellenic manners permeated the community,
the courtesan established herself on the same footing as in Greece. We
are told that a fortune gained by her harlotry was willed to Sulla by
Nicopolis;[1219] and the relations of Flora with the great Pompey are
given in detail by Plutarch. Captivated by the beauty of the latter,
Caecilius Metellus included her portrait among the adornments of the
temple of Castor and Pollux.[1220] Precia, a notorious strumpet,
won the devotion of Cethegus, one of the abettors of Sulla, and
the heritor of a large share of his power. At Rome he carried all
before him for some years, whilst he surrendered himself absolutely
to the caprices of his mistress. The provinces were distributed to
her nominees; and the command against Mithridates, in which Lucullus
acquired such extensive territories for the Republic, was obtained
by courting her favour by costly presents and blandishments.[1221]
It is needless to inquire how far illicit sexual connections were
politically operative during the rule of insensate emperors, for in
these times every excess had its parallel;[1222] but it may be noted
that the stern and sordid Vespasian abandoned the patronage of the
Empire to a mistress, into whose lap riches were poured by governors,
generals, and pontiffs, in the form of bribes for securing coveted
appointments.[1223] Concurrently with the decline of the Empire,
municipal institutions decayed, especially in the West, and the sense
of public decency became blunted. When Theodosius visited Rome in
389, he found prostitution in league with crime and administrative
measures more offensive than the moral laxity they were intended to
correct.[1224] Nor was the balance of public morality redressed until
Europe had passed through mediaevalism, and advanced for two or three
centuries into the modern period.[1225]
During the greater part of the reign of Justinian the fortunes of
the Empire were influenced to an unusual extent by two women, the
Empress Theodora and Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, whom chance
had raised from a base origin to the highest rank in the state. In
the early years of the reign of Anastasius, a man named Acacius
filled the post of bear-keeper to the Green faction. Dying somewhat
unexpectedly, he left his wife and three daughters, Comito, Theodora,
and Anastasia, totally unprovided for. The eldest child was but seven
years old, and the widow immediately attempted to provide for the
future by uniting herself with the man who was expected to become
her late husband’s successor. Another candidate, however, presented
himself, and by bribing the master of the shows, whose decision was
final, despoiled them of the situation. The family was now destitute,
but the mother resolved on a last effort to enlist the sympathy of the
faction. Binding the heads and hands of her little girls with wreaths
of flowers, according to ancient custom, she displayed herself with
them in the crowded Hippodrome in the posture of suppliants. These
tactics proved successful, for, although the Greens rejected her
prayer, it happened that the Blue faction were at the moment in want of
a bear-keeper, and they at once preferred the stepfather to the vacant
place. In course of time the daughters developed into handsome young
women, and one by one were consigned to the theatre, as the sphere
most congenial to the associations in which they had been reared. The
eldest, Comito, was the first to make her appearance, and she soon
became a person of some consequence, if not as an actress, at least as
a hetaira, a career indissolubly linked with that of a female performer
on the stage. At the same time her younger sister Theodora became a
familiar object to the public. Dressed in a short tunic, such as was
worn by young slaves, she was always to be seen in the wake of Comito,
bearing on her shoulder the folding seat[1226] without which no one of
any pretensions could stir abroad. Thrown into the haunts of vice thus
prematurely, she became initiated objectively, before she attained the
age of womanhood, in all the excesses of lasciviousness.[1227] In her
turn, as soon as she was old enough, she was pushed to the front to
play a part upon the scene, where she soon captivated the audience by
her special gifts. Theodora was short of stature, of slight physique
and pale,[1228] whence she became possessed with the procacity and
insistence peculiar to those who fear to be slighted on account of
some physical defect. Her accomplishments included neither singing
nor dancing, but she proved herself to be a burlesque comédienne of
singular aptitudes. She was quick-witted and full of repartee, and
her air in coming on the stage was at once provocative of mirth. She
excelled particularly in the comic piteousness with which she resented
a mock chastisement delivered, according to a trick of the day, on her
puffed-out cheeks, which seemed to resound with the severity of the
infliction.[1229] But she was far from trusting to merely histrionic
art to gain the notoriety she craved for, and she applied herself
sedulously to charm that considerable section of humanity for whom the
salt of life is indecency. On the scene, or at private reunions, she
distinguished herself by her impudicity above any of her companions.
Her ingenuity was inexhaustible in inventing occasions for the
exposition of her nudities, and in sexual vice she became a mistress
of everything fantastic and unnatural. She dispensed with drapery as
far as was permissible by law, and one of her favourite devices was to
prostrate herself on the stage, with grains of corn distributed about
her person, so that a number of geese, in searching for their food,
might throw her scanty clothing into obscene disorder.[1230] At orgies
of the dissolute she was the life and soul of the festivities; and she
assumed the rôle of instructress in depravity among her compeers of
the theatre.[1231] Yet with respect to the latter, she also achieved
a reputation for being quarrelsome and spiteful beyond the usual
measure of her tribe. By her habitual and flagrant excesses, she became
universally known in the capital, and she was shunned by all worthy
citizens to such an extent, that they shrunk from being sullied by
her touch, should they chance to meet her in the street.[1232] If a
merchant encountered her in the morning he was as much scared at the
sight as at that of a bird of ill-omen.[1233] Animated by a genius
so restless and aspiring, it is evident that such a woman needed only
transference to a field of higher potential, to become one of the most
notable characters of the age. Such a place had been prepared for her
by fate, and she was destined to renew on the throne of the Empire the
triumphs she had won on the boards of the theatre.[1234]
By a mischance, which she had always practised every expedient
to avert,[1235] Theodora became the mother of a son while at
Constantinople. His father christened him John and, fearing that the
repugnance evinced towards the boy by his mother might endanger his
life, he carried him off into Arabia, the province of his permanent
residence.[1236] Soon afterwards Theodora was induced to quit the
capital by a Tyrian named Hecebolus, who was proceeding to North
Africa to occupy the seat of government in the Pentapolis. In a short
time, however, she alienated this lover by her petulant temper until,
provoked by her insolence, he expelled her from his establishment
without making any provision for her future. This consummation was
assuredly a valuable lesson by which she did not fail to profit at a
later date. Devoid of resources, she betook herself from Cyrene to
Alexandria, where she attempted to live by prostitution; but in a
strange city, without the entry of a congenial circle, she discovered
that her talents or her attractions were unavailing to procure a
livelihood. From city to city of the East she proceeded, repeating
always the same experience in a state of incurable distress.[1237] She
directed her steps constantly northwards in her wanderings, keeping
her mind fixed on the capital, to which she longed to return, and at
length she found herself on the southern shores of the Euxine, within
the limits of Paphlagonia.[1238] In that austere province, where the
circus and the theatre were eschewed, and fornication and adultery were
looked on as the most abominable crimes,[1239] it is possible that she
may have been affected by the puritanism of the inhabitants, certain
that she must have felt chastened by the trials she had undergone.
It is probable also that she remained there for some time in the
receipt of hospitality, whilst being exhorted and encouraged to live
a life of continence. Ultimately, however, she found means to regain
Constantinople, where she arrived in a sober frame of mind and with
the resolution not to relapse into her former habits. She sought out
a humble tenement in a portico near the district of Hormisdas,[1240]
where she resigned herself to earn a modest living by feminine
industry.[1241] A veil of obscurity hangs over the circumstances which
preceded the social elevation of Theodora, which can only be partly
dissipated by surmise. It appears that after the accession of Justin
she was discovered by Justinian sitting demurely at her spinning-wheel,
and that he was fascinated by her at once with a force which he was
unable to resist.[1242] It is allowed that she was not devoid of
beauty,[1243] but if she captivated him by that quality, it was one
which she possessed in common with a thousand others of her class.
Rather must we conclude that she won her dominion over him by her
distinction of mind and character, by her wit, vivacity, insight, and
social address.[1244] He was now verging on his fortieth year, and,
as we shall recognize more fully hereafter, must always have been of
a staid disposition, as free as possible from the wildness of youth.
How far he was acquainted with her past is altogether unknown; if her
travels had extended to a few years her former intimates might now
for the most part be scattered, her person might be half forgotten,
and her meretricious enormities but faintly remembered. Her scenic
extravagances may never have been witnessed by Justinian, but it is
certain that before long her former mode of life was at least partially
revealed to him. Their intercourse soon ripened into familiarity; he
made her his mistress, but without concealment, and with the fixed
intention of marrying her; and as the first step towards that end he
raised her to the rank of a patrician.[1245] Theodora was now removed
from her sordid surroundings and housed in a style suitable to her
enhanced fortunes.[1246] At the same time her sisters, Comito and
Anastasia, were rescued from their degrading vocation and maintained
in a manner befitting their semi-royal relationship.[1247] Her
influence with Justinian became unbounded, and, as the favourite of
the virtual master of the Empire, she was courted by all aspirants to
the emoluments of state.[1248] Her age was now more mature; she had
been taught discretion and self-restraint in the school of adversity,
and she was wise enough for the future not to hazard her ascendancy
by yielding intemperately to her passions. Her physical mould was
not that of a sensual woman, her amazing immorality resulted merely
from an inordinate desire to outrun all competition in the career on
which she had been launched, and we may believe that, after every
incentive to sexual excess had been removed from her path, she found no
difficulty in leading a life of the strictest chastity. Her energies
were now directed into other channels; she did not deny herself the
indulgence of using the exceptional power with which she was invested
to gratify her ambition to the full; she accumulated wealth by every
means possible to an official of the highest authority, and she seldom
allowed the machinery of government to escape altogether from her
control.
Two obstacles stood in the way of Justinian when he proposed to make
Theodora his wife. In the first place he was confronted by the old law
of Constantine which aimed at preserving the aristocratic families of
the Empire free from any taint in their blood. It was enacted thereby
that no woman of vicious life, actress or courtesan, or even of lowly
birth, could become the legal spouse of a man who had attained to the
rank of Clarissimus or Senator, the third grade of nobility.[1249] To
abrogate this statute was therefore a necessity before he could carry
out his design, but he easily prevailed on Justin to give the Imperial
sanction to a Constitution which recites at length the expediency of
granting to such women, who have repented and abjured their errors, an
equality of civil privileges with their unblemished sisters.[1250] A
further impediment arose from the opposition of the Empress Euphemia,
who withstood the marriage with an obstinacy which neither argument
nor entreaty could overcome.[1251] Although her relationship to Justin
had until recently been abased, the quondam slave had never deviated
from the path of virtue and had imbibed all the prejudices of the
strictest matron against women who made a traffic of their persons. A
critical delay thus became inevitable, but Theodora passed through it
triumphantly, and in 524, by the death of Euphemia, Justinian was freed
from all restraint. Their nuptials were then celebrated with official
acquiescence and without even popular protest. The Church, the Senate,
and the Army at once accepted the former actress as their mistress, and
the populace, who had contemplated her extravagances on the theatre,
now implored her protection with outstretched hands.[1252] The crown
with the title of Augusta was bestowed on her by Justinian at the
time of his own coronation;[1253] and she acquired an authority in the
Empire almost superior to that of her husband. After her elevation
Theodora became a zealous churchwoman, and extended her protection far
and wide to ecclesiastics and monks who had fallen into distress or
disrepute through being worsted in the theological feuds which were
characteristic of the age. But she was always bitterly hostile to those
who opposed her particular religious views or political plans, and
proceeded to the last extremity to subject them to her will.[1254]
Antonina sprang from the same coterie as Theodora, but her birth
was more disreputable. Her father was a charioteer of the Circus at
Thessalonica, and her mother a stage-strumpet.[1255] The two women were
not, however, companions, perhaps not even acquainted, as the wife
of Belisarius was almost a score of years senior to the Empress, and
she also exceeded the age of her husband by an even greater amount.
It appears, therefore, that whilst Justinian was probably twenty
years older than Theodora, Belisarius was at least as much junior to
Antonina. The latter was, in fact, the mother of several illegitimate
children before being married, and a son of hers named Photius, not
more than eight or ten years junior to his stepfather, is an observable
figure in the historic panorama.[1256] We have no details as to the
career of Antonina previous to her becoming involved in the current
of political affairs, nor can we regret the loss of another story of
moral obliquity, but there is evidence to prove that she was a woman
of a totally different stamp from the Empress, one disposed by natural
propensity to debauchery, and at no time inclined to deny herself the
pleasures of incontinency. At the outset of Justinian’s reign Theodora
regarded her with the greatest aversion, but whether because the
character of Antonina was at variance with her own or that she loathed
the presence of one too well informed as to her own antecedents cannot
now be determined. In the political vortex they were unavoidably thrown
much together, and it will often be necessary to inquire as to how
far the course of history may have been modified by their respective
activities and temperaments.[1257]
END OF VOL. I.
INDEX
Acoemeti, sleepless monks, 282.
Acrobats, 101.
Actresses, at Constantinople, 107;
marriage with, forbidden to senators, etc., 107, 346.
Adule, port of Axume or Abyssinia, 186, 187.
Adultery, punishment of, at Rome, 336.
Agathias, on military decline, 167;
epigram by, 341.
Agentes-in-rebus, Imperial messengers, 143.
Agrippina, mother of Nero, her arrogance, 326.
Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, her courage, etc., 329.
Aimoin on marriages of Justinian and Belisarius, 348.
Alamundar, Arab sheik, his enormities, 312.
Alemannus, his notes on secret history of Procopius, 320.
Allegories of Neoplatonists, 264.
Amantius, chief eunuch, his plots and execution by Justin, 302, 305.
Amida, siege of, 177.
Ammianus, on Papal luxury, 275.
Ambrose, St., opposes Theodosius I, 55.
Anastasia, sister of Theodora, 338, 345.
Anastasius, Emperor, his coronation, 104;
wars, 175;
character, 298.
Anemodulion or Wind-slave, 76.
Animals, draught, humane treatment of, 142.
Anthology, Greek, obscenity of, 341.
Antioch, earthquake at, 317.
Antipodes, Church against, 182, 214.
Antonina, wife of Belisarius, her origin, etc., 348.
Apostles, Twelve, Church of, 79;
credibility of statements as to, 254;
authenticity of epistles by, _ib._
Apollonius Tyaneus, at Constantinople, 66, 73;
character of, 245, 274.
Apparitors, officers of provincial judges, 149.
Arches, triumphal, at Constantinople, 33, 69, 72, 73, 77, 78.
Arians, at Nice, 276;
Gothic, 79, 279.
Aristippus, his Cyrenean philosophy, 239.
Aristotle, his scientific work, 239;
on slavery, 115;
on women, 322;
on abortion, 343.
Army, Byzantine, 165, _sqq._
Artemisia I and II, queens of Caria, 322.
Art-schools, 224.
Aspirate, abuse of, at Rome, 126.
Athenais or Eudocia, Empress, 108, 230.
Atomic theory of Epicurus, etc., 284.
Augustine, St., his early life, 207;
on prostitution, 331.
Aurelius, Marcus, his ethics, 241;
persecutes Christians, 251.
Bakeries, public, 82;
at Rome, kidnapping for, 337.
Banduri, anon. Patria of, 23.
Baptism, early form of, 112.
Basil the Great, founder of monasteries, etc., 209, 282.
Baths, public, 57;
mixing of sexes in, 116, 340.
Beazley, on early trade, 185.
Beylié on Byzantine houses, 24.
Belisarius, first appearance as a general, 316;
marriage of, 348.
Bema or chancel in Greek church, 55.
Berenice, queen, her crime, 324;
her fate, 325.
Berytus, seat of law-school, 218.
Bigg on Platonists at Alexandria, 262.
Blachernae, region and palace of, at Constantinople, 26, 81.
Blemmyes or Nubians, emerald mines worked by, 189.
Blues and Greens, factions of Circus, 22, 98, 298.
Books at Constantinople, public, 58, 208;
private, 118.
Bosphorus, Thracian, 7, 9, 12.
Bryce on life of Justinian by Theophilus or Bogomil, 320.
Buckler, elevation of emperor on, 105.
Bury on Byzantine economics, 198, 201.
Byzantium, foundation of, 3;
vocal walls of, 7;
character of inhabitants of, 84.
_Byzantinische Zeitschrift_, 361.
Byzas, founder of Byzantium, 3, 48.
Caecina, his motion against wives of provincial governors, 329.
Caenis, concubine of Vespasian, 336, 346.
Candidates, Imperial guards, 50, 167.
Cassius, Dion, on old Byzantium, 6;
on Vespasian’s parsimony, 336.
Cavades or Kavádh, king of Persia, 176, 313.
Cethegus and Precia, 335.
Ceylon, ancient trade at, 186.
Chain of Golden Horn, 40.
Chalcedon, foundation of, 3;
council of, 277, _sqq._
Chalke, palace at Constantinople, 49.
Charity, public, at Constantinople, 81.
China and silk trade, 193.
Chosroes or Nushirvan, prince of Persia, 314.
Chrysargyron, tax on petty trade, 154;
abolition of, 155, 201.
Chrysoceras or Golden Horn, 4, 12, 38.
Chrysopolis or Scutari, 80 (map).
Chrysostom on luxury of Byzantines, 87, 113, _sqq._;
on immorality of, 112, 121.
Churches, Greek, 55;
conduct in, 112.
Circus or Hippodrome, 60, 97, _sqq._
Cisterns at Constantinople, 173, _sqq._
Cleopatra, sister queens so named, their crimes, 324.
Clergy, trade duty free to, 155, 293.
Codicils or Imperial commissions, 93.
Codinus on antiquities of Constantinople, 23, etc.
Coinage of Byzantium and Constantinople, 122.
Colchis or Lazica, relations of Empire with, 312, 316.
Columns at Constantinople, 48, 69, 72, 78, 80.
Coma Berenices, 325.
Comito, sister of Theodora, 338, 345.
Consistorium, Imperial council, 144.
Constantine the Great founds Constantinople, 10, 13, 85;
establishes Christianity, 15, 270.
Consul, installation of, 109.
Cornelia, wife of Pompey, her learning, etc., 326.
Cosmas Indicopleustes, his travels, etc., 182, 187, etc.
Cost of commodities, etc., 123;
of slaves, 115.
Costume at Constantinople, 85, _sqq._
Councils, Oecumenical, 276, _sqq._
Creeds, Christian, elaboration of, 275.
Crescent, chosen emblem of Byzantines, 6.
Cresollius on sophists and voice culture, 208, 214.
Crowns, Byzantine, 91.
Crusades, effects of, 293.
Cyclobion, a fort at Constantinople, 25.
Cynane, daughter of Philip of Macedon, her warlike exploits, 322.
Cynic philosophers, 238, 241.
Daphne, palace at Constantinople, 51.
Dardania, site of Taor and Bader, 299.
Débidour, his defence of Theodora, 342.
Decurions in local government, 148;
captains of silentiaries, 52.
Demes, factions of Circus, 22, 98, 298.
Diehl, his work on Justinian, v, 345.
Dion Cassius. _See_ Cassius.
Diptychs, consular, 110, 227.
Dome or cupola, introduction of, 25, 225.
Ducange on Christian Constantinople 24, etc.
Earthquakes in Eastern Empire, 13, 317.
Emperor, Byzantine, dress of, 89;
portraits of, 42.
Epicurus, his philosophy, 239, 284;
and Leontium, 332.
Eucharist, early method of administering, 112.
Eugenius, tower and gate of, 39, 40.
Eunuchs, origin of, 133;
in Byzantine Empire, _ib._
Euphemia, Empress, her change of name, 301, 304;
opposes Justinian’s marriage, 347.
Euripus of Circus, 62, 64.
Eurydice, daughter of Cynane, her war against Olympias, 323.
Eusebius, his “Church History,” 290.
Evagrius on abolition of chrysargyron, 154;
on monks, 281.
Evans on Illyrian antiquities, 299, 300.
Evolution, nature and prospects of, 285, _sqq._
Exokionion, region of Constantinople, 78, 79.
Exposure of infants, 242;
prohibited at Thebes, _ib._
Filelfo of Ancona, his letters on later Byzantine manners, 116;
on preservation of classical Greek, 126.
Financial officials, bureaucrats, 152, 161;
surveyors and assessors, 150, _sqq._;
collectors, 158, _sqq._
Fish, plenty of, at Constantinople, 4, 84;
miraculous creation of, 253.
Foederati, foreign mercenaries, 169, 170.
Follis, coin and sum, uncertainty about, 100, _sqq._
Forum, of Constantine, 69;
Imperial or Augusteum, 49;
Strategium, 70;
of Theodosius I or Taurus, 71, _sqq._;
Amastrianum, 77;
of Arcadius, 77;
of Honorius, 80.
Fountains, sacred, at Constantinople, 26, 27, 38.
Galen, his works, 221.
Gallienus, his connection with Byzantium, 9, 48.
Galton on Inquisition, 293.
Gates of Constantinople, 31;
Caspian or Caucasian, Golden, 33.
Gieseler, Church History of, 249, 251, etc.
Gladiators, abolition of, 67, 241.
Godefroy (or Godfrey), Theodosian code by, 42, 160, _et passim_.
Golden Gate of Constantinople, 33.
Golden Horn or Chrysoceras, 4, 12, 38.
Gospels, credibility of, 253.
Governors of provinces, Rectors or judges, 148.
Greek churches, decoration of, 55, 227.
Greek learning, introduction of, at Rome, 205, _sqq._
Greens and Blues, factions of Circus, 22, 98, 298.
Gregory of Nazianzus on military dragons, 168;
on furore at Circus, 108;
on theatre, 339.
Gregory of Nyssa on female education, 229;
on popular theology, 280.
Grosvenor on antiquities of Constantinople, 4, 24, 41, 48, etc.
Guards, Imperial, 50, 167;
private, 171.
Gyllius on antiquities of Constantinople, 4, 5, 24, 33, etc.
Halicarnassus, mausoleum at, 322.
Harbours of Byzantium, 7;
of Constantinople, _ib._;
of Theodosius, or Eleutherium, 36;
of Julian, _ib._;
of Bucoleon, 37;
of Neorion or Golden Horn, 39.
Hardouin, Cardinal, on forgery of ecclesiastical works, 256, 282.
Harpalus, his monuments to a hetaira, 335.
Hebdomon, a suburb seven miles from Milion, 319.
Hefner-Alteneck on costume, 91;
on family of Theodora, 342.
Hetairas or courtesans, their manners, etc., 115, 329, _sqq._
Hierocles against Christians, 274.
Hills, seven, of Constantinople, 10, 11;
of Rome, _ib._
Hippalus, a navigator, discovers the monsoons, 184.
Hippodrome or Circus, description of, 60, 97;
exhibitions in, 100;
records kept under, 67, 72.
Hodgkin on silentiaries, 52.
Hormisdas, palace of, 37;
occupied by Justinian, 309.
Huns, Attila and, 21;
Persia and, 176, 178;
Romans and, 313.
Hymn-singing in church, 111;
in open air, 97.
Hypatia, her murder, etc., 207, 230.
Iamblichus, his philosophy, 264.
Iberia or Georgia, relations of Empire with, 315.
Iconostasis, image-screen in Greek church, 55.
Infant exposure, 242.
Ink, Imperial purple, 93.
Inquisition, effects of, in Spain, 293.
Inscriptions on gates of Constantinople, 32, 34;
on codicils, 93;
solution of, 94.
Irenarchs or rural police, 144, 203.
Irene, church of, at Constantinople, 56.
Isambert, his work on Justinian, v, 308.
Isaurians, character of, 172;
war with, 175.
Isidore of Seville, his “Etymologies,” 212;
on eunuchs, 133;
on astronomy, 216.
Isocrates, his ethics, 241.
Jerome on female education, 230.
Jesus, life of, 245, _sqq._;
its credibility, 253.
John of Antioch on military decline, 167;
on Justin, 301.
John of Ephesus on Theodora, 345.
John Lydus on Circus, 63, 99, 101, 102;
on Anastasius, 299.
Julian, Emperor, his character, etc., 271, 280.
Justin, Emperor, his birth and success, 300, _sqq._;
his accession to the throne, 302.
Justinian, Emperor, birth, education, and adoption by
Justin, 301, _sqq._;
his consulship and diptychs, 308;
his marriage, 344, _sqq._
Juvenal on unbelief at Rome, 244;
on Messalina, 342.
Kathisma, Imperial seat in Circus, 61, 97.
Khosr, Chosroes, or Nushirvan, prince of Persia, 314.
Kobad, Cavades, or Kavádh, king of Persia, 176, _sqq._, 313.
Kondakoff on Byzantine art, 225, 228.
Lais, a courtesan, her tomb, 334.
Lamia, a courtesan, a temple to, 335.
Latin language, use of in East, 125.
Law, intricacies of, etc., 219, _sqq._
Law schools at Berytus, etc., 218, _sqq._
Law students, grades of, 219;
ill conduct of, 207.
Lazica or Colchis, relations of Empire with, 312, 316.
Leaena, a courtesan, her monument, 334.
Leontium, a courtesan, and Epicurus, 332;
her writings, _ib._
Lethaby and Swainson on St. Sophia, 55.
Libanius, sophist, method of training scholars, 211, 214;
on decurions, 197.
Libraries, public, at Constantinople, 58, 208.
Long wall of Anastasius, 124, 164.
Lucian on sham philosophers, 209;
on manners of hetairas, 115.
Ludewig, his work on Justinian, v;
on Theodora, 342.
Luitprand on gymnastics, 101;
on reclining at meals, 114.
Lupanars or brothels, 75.
Lupicina, later Empress Euphemia, 301, 304, 347.
Magnaura, Imperial reception hall, 56.
Man and beast fights in Circus, 101.
Manganon of Circus, 61;
an arsenal, 48.
Mani and Manichaeans, 267, _sqq._;
laws against, 269.
Mansions for relays of post horses, etc., 141.
Marble tower at Constantinople, 35.
Marinus, a painter, illustrates life of Justin, 304.
Marinus, Praetorian Praefect, his extortions, 299.
Marrast on Byzantine gardens, etc., 53;
on popular theology, 280.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, 322.
Megara, a colony of Byzantium, 3, 84;
character of inhabitants of, _ib._
Menken, A. I., actress, her career, etc., 340.
Messalina, Empress, wife of Claudius, her debauchery, 342.
Milion, official milestone at Constantinople, 59.
Moat at Constantinople, 27.
Monasteries, origin of, 280, _sqq._
Money of Byzantium, 123;
of Constantinople, 122.
Monks, origin of, 280, _sqq._;
acoemeti or sleepless, 78, 282.
Monophysites at Chalcedon, 278;
persecution of, 306.
Monsoons, discovery of, 184.
Montez, Lola, actress, her career, 333, 340.
Mordtmann on antiquities of Constantinople, 15, 24, _et passim_.
Mosheim, Church history of, 276.
Mythology, comparative, 235.
Narthex, vestibule of Greek church, 55, 111.
Neander, Church history of, 252, 282.
Neoplatonists, philosophy of, 261, _sqq._
Nicopolis, a courtesan, leaves her fortune to Sulla, 335.
Nöldeke, history of Persians and Arabians by, 176.
Notitia, official guide to civil and military service of
Empire, 23, 93, _et passim_.
Nude model, facilities for studying in Greece, 226.
Nushirvan or Chosroes, prince of Persia, 314.
Obelisk in Hippodrome, 63.
Olympias, mother of Alexander, her war, etc., 323.
Oman on art of war, 168, 174.
Pachomius, founder of monasteries, 282.
Paederasty, prevalence of, 120.
Palace, Imperial, of Constantinople, 49, _sqq._
Panaetius, a Stoic philosopher, his ethics, 241.
Paspates on antiquities of Constantinople, 2, 24, 28, etc.
Pavement, the, at Constantinople, 69.
Pearl, Cora, a courtesan, her career, etc., 332, 334.
Pericles and Aspasia, 331.
Peripatetic philosophers, 238.
Phila, wife of Demetrius Poliorcetes, her character and temple, 324.
Photius, son of Antonina, 348.
Physicians, public, at Constantinople, 82, 88.
Placidia Galla, Empress, her sovereignty, 51, 327.
Plagiarism, habitual, of Byzantine writers, 228.
Plancina and Germanicus, 329.
Plato on education, 217;
on cosmogony, 258, _sqq._
Pliny on early Christians, 249.
Plotinus, founder of Neoplatonism, 261, _sqq._
Poll tax, 152.
Polybius on unbelief at Rome, 244.
Pompeius, nephew of Anastasius, 305.
Pompey the Great, his wife, 326;
his pillar at Constantinople, 48.
Popes, ostentation of, 275.
Population of Constantinople, 123.
Porch, Royal, at Constantinople, 58.
Porphyry, a Neoplatonist, his philosophy, 263.
Portia, wife of Brutus, wounds herself, 326.
Posts, public, of Empire, 141.
Praetorium, government house in provinces, 148.
Precia, a courtesan, rules Cethegus and Rome, 335.
Primitive races, extinction of, by civilization, 296.
Priscian on grammar, etc., 213;
a centenarian, _ib._
Processions, Imperial, 95, 319.
Procopius first appears in history, 316;
his “Secret History,” 339.
Professors officially appointed, 205, _sqq._;
salaries of, 210.
Prostitution, 329, _sqq._, 337.
Prostration before emperor, 52, 92, 133.
Public shows, expenses of, 100.
Purple, imperial, laws as to, 191.
Puteoli, hydraulic cement of, 41.
Pythagoras, philosopher, on numbers, 215;
on music, 216.
Pythionice, a courtesan, her monuments, 335.
Quintilian on education, 211.
Rabutaux on mediaeval prostitution, 337.
Rectors or provincial governors, 148;
extortions of, 198.
Reformation, the, 294.
Renaissance, the, 294.
Rhetoricians or sophists, their teaching, 211, 212, _sqq._;
affectation of, 208.
Roads, Roman, 141.
_Roi des Ribauds_, intendant of palace courtesans, 337.
Rome, fall of, 20.
Salaries of professors, 210.
Salonina, wife of Caecina, her arrogant display, 328.
Sampson, hospital of, 56.
Scamander river, anecdote of, 330.
Schools of art, 224.
Semantron, call to church, 110.
Senate-houses, 56, 70.
Senate of Constantinople, 146;
Constantine and, 19;
Julian and, 146.
Serpent column in Hippodrome, origin of, 63;
destruction of, 64.
Seven hills at Constantinople, 10, 11;
at Rome, _ib._
Seven towers at Constantinople, 34.
Severus, Emperor, at Byzantium, 8.
Ships, capacity of ancient, 161, 184.
Siedeliba or Ceylon, trade at, 186, 187.
Sigma or crescent at Constantinople, 33, 60.
Silk, mercantile routes from China for, 185, 193.
Silphium, a pot-herb, land of, 192.
Slave of Winds or Anemodulion, 76.
Soaemias, mother of Elagabalus, her character and conduct, 327.
Socrates, Church historian, 290, etc.
Socrates, philosopher, his ethics, 238, 240;
visits Theodote, 332.
Sophists or rhetoricians, their teaching, 212, _sqq._;
affectation, 208.
Spiritualism, ancient and modern, 257, _sqq._, 263.
St. Sophia, old church of, 55.
Statues, public, multitude of, 61.
Steps, public rations served from, 80.
Stoics, their ethics, 238, 264, 286.
Streets at Constantinople, 42, 46.
Strzygowski, his researches on the Golden Gate, 34, 362;
on cisterns, 362.
Studius, monastery of, 78, 280.
Stylites or pillar-saints, 281.
Suburbs of Constantinople, 124.
Sycae, now Galata, 39, 80.
Tabari, translation of, by Nöldeke, 176;
by Zotenberg, _ib._
Taurus, square of, 71.
Taxes, ways of levying, 149, _sqq._
Theocritus aspires to purple, 302;
executed by Justin, 306.
Theodora, origin and career of, 337;
her reformation, 344;
marriage, etc., 347.
Theodoric the Goth, 178, 310.
Theodosius I, his laws against Pagans, 274, 277.
Theodote, a courtesan, Socrates visits, 332.
Theodotus, P. U., opposes Justinian, 309.
Thomas, a silentiary, plunders fugitives at Antioch, 318.
Throne, Byzantine, 50.
Titles of honour, 96.
Torture, taxes enforced by, 200.
Towers at Constantinople, 28, 29, 40.
Trade routes, 184, _sqq._
Trajan, Emperor, and Christians, 250.
Treasury, Imperial, etc., 161.
Tzykanisterion or palace garden, 53.
University or Auditorium of Constantinople, 72, 207, _sqq._
Urbicius, chief eunuch, nominates Anastasius for throne, 104.
Vandals in Spain and Africa, 131.
Van Millingen on Golden Gate, 34;
on Bucoleon harbour, 38.
Verina, Empress, wife of Leo I, provokes a revolution against
Zeno, 328.
Vespasian and Caenis, 336, 346.
Vigilantia, mother of Justinian, 347;
sister of, 301.
Vigilantius against relic worship, etc., 292.
Vistilia, a noble lady, applies for _licentia stupri_, 336.
Vitalian, a general, his revolt, 180;
consulship and murder of, 306, _sqq._
Wall, Long, of Anastasius, 124, 164.
Walls of Byzantium, vocal, 7;
of Constantinople, 27, _sqq._
Water, public supply of, at Constantinople, 73, 74.
Women at Athens, 321;
at Sparta, _ib._;
towns named in honour of, 323.
Wood for fuel, brought from Euxine, 40.
Xenophanes, the Eleatic, his philosophy, 238, 251.
Xerolophos, or dry-hill, at Constantinople, 11, 78.
Xylocercus Gate, 31.
Youth, dissoluteness of, 119;
education of, 204, _sqq._;
legal, 219;
for art, 224.
Zachariah of Mytilene, translated by Hamilton and
Brooks, 278, 312, etc.
Zeno, Eleatic philosopher, 238.
Zeno, Emperor, his Henoticon, 278;
death of, 103.
Zeno, Stoic philosopher, 238.
Zeugma, a quarter of Constantinople, 40.
Zeuxippus, baths of, at Constantinople, 57.
Zoroaster or Zarathushtra, 268.
Zotenberg, translation of Tabari by, 176.
ERRATA
P. 11, peninsula; p. 17, n. 1, Frising.; p. 24, note, Beylié; p. 55, n.
3, Lethaby; p. 118, n. 4, Lactant., i, 20; p. 158, n. 3, Berg-; p. 188,
herd; p. 225, n. 1, cadavérique; p. 256, note, und.
ADDITIONS
P. 20, n. 1. The date of the dialogue Philopatris has been the subject
of much argument, notably in _Byzant. Zeitschrift_, vols. v and vi,
1896-7. It has been placed under Carus, Julian, Heraclius, and John
Zimisces. The matter is unintelligible unless at an early period of
Christianity, and I should be inclined to maintain that interpolations
in one or two places by late copyists (see p. 256) have given it a
false semblance of recency.
P. 24, note. John Malala was unknown to Ducange (not having been
published till 1691), and hence has been neglected to a great extent by
later writers on Byzantine antiquities. He is the earliest authority
for much of what is to be found in the later chronographers. According
to Conybeare the Paschal Chronicle did not copy Malala, but an original
common to both; _Byzant. Zeitsch._, 1902.
P. 33. There is no record of the building of the Golden Gate, but John
Malala (p. 360), says that Theodosius II gilded it, whence the name.
Most probably this statement includes the erection of the monument. I
am now satisfied that the Golden Gate had no direct connection with
Theodosius the Great, but was raised by his grandson to commemorate the
overthrow of the usurper John by his generals Aspar and Ardaburius at
Ravenna in 425. This is the “tyrant” alluded to (“post fata tyranni”),
who had supplanted the infant Valentinian III in the West, afterwards
the husband of Eudoxia, daughter of Theodosius II. The victory caused
the greatest excitement at CP., of which Socrates (vii, 23) gives
a striking account. They were all sitting in the Hippodrome when
the news arrived, whereupon the Emperor, with the whole audience,
rose up, abandoned the games, marched through the streets singing
enthusiastically, and the rest of the day was spent in the churches
giving utterance to fervid prayers. It is inconceivable that so tame
a couplet could have been composed to celebrate the martial deeds
of Theodosius I. The clash of arms would have been heard in any
inscription designed to record the achievements of an Emperor who
won battles in the field by his own tactics and strategy. But in a
generally quiet reign, with the palace under the rule of the women,
any decided success would be magnified and the weakling Theodosius II
would naturally be associated with the prestige of his grandfather,
whose name he bore. The case is one on all fours with that of the great
statue in Taurus (erected after a minor Persian war), so skilfully
allocated by Déthier (see p. 72) and the boastful inscription on it
(Gk. Anthol. Plan., iv, 65). The inscription on the Golden Gate was not
sculptured, but was composed of metal letters fastened to the stone
by rivets. Many of these holes can still be located on the decayed
surface. These were first observed by Strzygowski in 1893, and by
joining them judiciously the form of the letters originally attached
could be made out. The lines ran across the top of the gate, the first
verse of the couplet being on the left side, the second on the right.
See the monograph by S. on the Golden Gate, Jahrb. d. Kaiser. Deutsche
Archæol. Instit., 1893, viii, 1. But the origin of the old Golden
Gate in the Constantinian wall remains unsolved; for surmises see Van
Millingen.
P. 31. It is highly improbable that the wall of Theodosius ever ran
through to the Golden Horn, as, in order to do so, it would have had
to cut the parish or region of Blachernae in two. It must have pulled
up therefore at the previously existing wall which surrounded that
part; see the Notitia, reg. xiv. Hence there must always have been a
projecting portion of the fortifications at this end.
P. 37. Van Millingen decides to identify the palace of Bucoleon with
that of Hormisdas, as hitherto the building on the wall has been
popularly named. This identification now seems to me quite tenable.
Both the Anon. and Codinus (pp. 45, 87) mention, in somewhat different
terms, the locality of H., and connect it with Port Julian, evidently
to the west of the existing ruin. I am satisfied that the latter is
really the Bucoleon built by Theodosius II, and that the Hormisdas,
which must have been altogether reconstructed by Justinian (Procop.,
Aedific., i, 10), has quite disappeared. Theodosius could not by any
sort of implication be said to have built a house of Hormisdas, who
was dead long before he was born. Later this palace (Hormisdas) was
diverted to ecclesiastical purposes, became, in fact, a sort of Church
House, where meetings were held, and also a hostelry for members of the
priesthood when visiting the capital; see pp. 669, _sqq._ In the latter
connection it is often mentioned by John of Ephesus in the work already
referred to (p. 345, n. 2).
P. 74. The identification of the _Bin bir derek_ with the cistern of
Philoxenus is a mere surmise—a monogram on the columns is said to stand
for Εὖγε φιλόξενε! The researches of Forscheimer (and Strzygowski) give
a more likely elucidation which, with the _Yeri Baian Seraï_, a much
larger cistern still full of water, will be considered later on. See p.
539 and cf. Lethaby and S., p. 248.
Pp. 78, 319. There were three localities at CP. which might
conceivably have been called Hebdomon by the inhabitants: 1. The
seventh of the fourteen parishes of the city as described in the
Notitia; 2. The camping ground near Blachernae of the seventh regiment
of Gothic mercenaries; 3. A kind of Field of Mars for reviewing the
troops situated seven miles from the Milion on the shore of the
Propontis. When processions to the Hebdomon are mentioned, it is always
the last place which is meant, and there the church of St. John was
founded. I do not know whether there is any literary reference to
either of the first two localities under that name, but much confusion
has been occasioned by the contradictory views of various writers,
especially Gyllius and Ducange; see Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p. 29.
P. 100. The actual sums which it appears that scholars accept as
obligatory on three praetors to spend annually for the public shows are
respectively £150,000, £120,000, and £90,000, in all £360,000! Under
these circumstances it was scarcely worth while for Olympiodorus to
mention such a trifle as the 1,200 lb. of gold (£48,000), expended by
Probus in his praetorship, unless it was to show how beggarly he was
in comparison with his predecessors in office, the least of whom had
to disburse under legal compulsion nearly double that amount. It is
strange that none of Gibbon’s editors has noticed that his “ridiculous
four or five pounds” is in reality £57 5_s._, at his own estimate
of the value of the _follis_ (.548_d._), viz., 1∕2025 of the silver
_follis_ or purse, which he makes equal to £6; iii, p. 293 (Bury). I
have read somewhere that Sir Isaac Newton could not work the simple
rules of arithmetic.
Pp. 252, 274. The evidence for Galerius’s edict of toleration and
Constantine’s Edict of Milan (313) is the same, viz., Lactantius and
Eusebius. There is no good reason to doubt the latter. The attitude
of Galerius towards Christianity was mere toleration after failure to
suppress; Constantine’s that of favour and adoption. Every one knew
that Galerius would spring again if he got the chance. If C. took up
Christianity as one of his religions _c._ 312, he would naturally,
after his victory, issue a manifesto to define his personal policy and
inclinations. Too much stress is often laid on the light doubts of
recent investigators.
P. 294, n. 2. Since this section on religion was written, two movements
on the lines indicated have come to the surface, one a petition by
university teachers for more freedom in dealing with the mythological
texts in relation to students, the other a similar petition by
ministers of the establishment, for the same freedom, with respect to
the public. Both failed, but doubtless the tide of rationalism will
rise again and again until the desired emancipation be achieved. These
are symptoms of a readjustment of popular religious beliefs at no
distant date, perhaps within a generation or two, a consummation I had
not anticipated as likely to occur for centuries to come. But, as the
chick emerges suddenly from the egg which immediately before was to all
appearances physically unaltered, so sociological revolutions, long
brooding beneath the surface, are sometimes fully achieved in a moment
of time.
Pp. 345, 348. Were we without the Anecdotes of Procopius we should
still know practically all that he has revealed about Theodora. 1.
That she was a prostitute, John of Ephesus, Aimoin. 2. That she was in
a very lowly condition before her marriage, Codinus. 3. That she was
vindictive and cruel when on the throne, Liber Pontificalis, Vigilius.
All this evidence is adverted to circumstantially in its proper setting
throughout the work.
* * * * *
⁂ For CORRIGENDA ET ADDENDA to the whole work see end of Vol. II.
CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT,
CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] To these must now be added Diehl’s beautifully illustrated work,
_Justinien et la civilization Byzantine au VI^e siècle_, Paris, 1901.
The leading motive is that of art, and it is replete with interesting
details, but the conception is too narrow to allow of its fully
representing the age to a modern reader.
[2] Radium was unknown in 1901 when the above was written.
[3] In presenting this history to the modern reader I shall not
imitate the example of those mediaeval stage-managers, who, in order
to indicate the scenery of the play, were content to exhibit a placard
such as “This is a street,” “This is a wood,” etc. On the contrary, on
each occasion that the scene shifts in this drama of real life, I shall
describe the locality of the events at a length proportionate to their
importance.
[4] Schliemann found neolithic remains at Hissarlik, not far off
(Ilios, p. 236, 1880).
[5] In the sixteenth century, as we are told by Gyllius (Top. CP.,
iv, 11), the Greeks of Stamboul were utterly oblivious of the history
of their country and of the suggestiveness of the remains which lay
around them. But an awakening has now taken place and the modern Greeks
are among the most ardent in the pursuit of archaeological knowledge.
They have even revived the language of Attica for literary purposes,
and it may be said that an Athenian of the age of Pericles could read
with facility the works now issued from the Greek press of Athens or
of Constantinople—a unique example, I should think, in the history
of philology. Through Paspates (Βυζαντινὰ Ανάκτορα, pp. 95, 140), we
are made aware of the difficulties the topographical student has to
encounter in the Ottoman capital, where an intruding Giaour is sure to
be assailed in the more sequestered Turkish quarters with abuse and
missiles on the part of men, women, and children.
[6] Alluded to by both Homer and Hesiod (Odyss., xii, 69; Theog.,
992). It was one of those unknown countries which, as Plutarch remarks
(Theseus, 1), were looked on as a fitting scene for mythical events.
[7] Pindar, Pythia, iv, 362; P. Mela, i, 19, etc.
[8] Of these Sinope claimed to be the eldest, and honoured the
Argonauts as its founders (Strabo, xii, 3).
[9] _Ibid._, vii, 6.
[10] Herodotus, iv, 144.
[11] Pliny, Hist. Nat., iv, 18 [11]. Ausonius compares Lygos to the
Byrsa of Carthage (De Clar. Urb., 2).
[12] Not a Greek name; most likely that of a local chief.
[13] According to the Chronicon of Eusebius, Chalcedon was founded
in Olymp. 26, 4, and Byzantium in Olymp. 30, 2, or 673, 659 B.C. In
modern works of reference the dates 684, 667 seem to be most generally
accepted. I pass over the legends associated with this foundation—the
divine birth of Byzas; the oracle telling the emigrants to build
opposite the city of the blind; another, which led the Argives (who
were also concerned in the early history of Byzantium) to choose the
confluence of the Cydarus and Barbyses, at the extremity of the Golden
Horn, whence they were directed to the right spot by birds, who flew
away with parts of their sacrifice—inventions or hearsay of later
times, when the real circumstances were forgotten (see Strabo, vii, 6;
Hesychius Miles, De Orig. CP., and others), all authors of comparatively
late date. Herodotus (iv, 144), the nearest to the events (_c._ 450
B.C.), makes the plain statement that the Persian general Megabyzus
said the Chalcedonians must have been blind when they overlooked the
site of Byzantium.
[14] The remains of a “cyclopean” wall (Paspates, Βυζαντινὰ Ανάκτορα,
p. 24), built with blocks of stone (some ten feet long?) probably
belonged to old Byzantium, respecting which it is only certainly known
that it stood at the north-east extremity of the promontory (Zosimus,
ii, 30; Codinus, p. 24; with Mordtmann’s Map, etc.). It can scarcely
be doubted that the site of the Hippodrome was outside the original
walls, and thus we have a limit on the land side. It may be assumed
that the so-called first hill formed an acropolis, round which there
was an external wall inclosing the main part of the town (Xenophon,
Anabasis, vii, 1, etc.). Doubtless the citadel covered no great area,
and the city walls were kept close to the water for as long a distance
as possible to limit the extent of investment in a siege.
[15] Polybius, iv, 38, 45, etc. It was abolished after a war with
Rhodes, 219 B.C.
[16] Tacitus, Annal., xii, 63, and commentators. Strabo, ii, 6; Pliny,
Hist. Nat., ix, 20 [15]. They are mostly tunny fish, a large kind of
mackerel. In the time of Gyllius, women and children caught them simply
by letting down baskets into the water (De Top. CP. pref.; so also
Busbecq). Grosvenor, a resident, mentions that seventy sorts of fish
are found in the sea about the city (Constantinople, 1895, ii, p. 576.)
[17] Strabo proves that the gulf was called the Horn, Pliny that
the Horn was Golden (the promontory in his view), Dionysius Byzant.
(Gyllius, De Bosp. Thrac., i, 5), that in the second century the inlet
was named Golden Horn. Hesychius (_loc. cit._) and Procopius (De
Aedific., i, 5) say that Ceras was from Ceroessa, mother of Byzas.
[18] Dionys. Byz. in Gyllius, De Top. CP., i, 2. The statement is
vague and can only be accepted with some modification in view of other
descriptions.
[19] Livy, xxxii, 33.
[20] Phylarchus in Athenaeus, vi, 101.
[21] See Müller’s Dorians, ii, 177.
[22] Hesychius, _loc. cit._; Diodorus Sic., xvi, 77, etc.
[23] Polybius, iv, 46, etc.
[24] Cicero, Orat. de Prov. Consular., 3.
[25] Tacitus, _loc. cit._; Pliny, Epist. to Trajan, 52.
[26] Suetonius, Vespasian, 8.
[27] Dion Cassius, 10, 14. I have combined and condensed the separate
passages dealing with the subject.
[28] Herodian, iii, 1; Pausanias, iv, 31. Walls of this kind were built
without cement, so that the joinings were hardly perceptible.
[29] At an earlier period it seems that there was only one harbour
(Xenophon, Anabasis, vii, 1; Plutarch, Alcibiades, 31).
[30] A not uncommon acoustic phenomenon, such as occurs in the
so-called “Ear [prison] of Dionysius” at Syracuse, etc. It can be
credited without seeking for a mythical explanation.
[31] Suidas, _sb._ Severus; Herodian, iii, 7.
[32] The general details are from Dion Cassius, lxxiv, 12-14.
[33] Suidas, _loc. cit._; Jn. Malala, xii, p. 291; Chron. Paschale, i,
p. 495.
[34] Eustathius _ad_ Dionys., Perieg. 804; Codinus, p. 13.
[35] Hist. August. Caracalla, 1. He is represented as a boy interceding
with his father.
[36] Hist. August. Gallienus, 6, 13, etc.; Claudius, 9; Zosimus, i,
34, etc.; Aurelius Victor, De Caesar., xxxiii, etc. There is much to
support the views in the text, which reconcile the somewhat discrepant
statements of Dion and Herodian with those of later writers. The
Goths seem to have been in possession of Byzantium—therefore it was
unfortified (Zosimus, i, 34; Syncellus, i, p. 717). More than a century
later, Fritigern was “at peace with stone walls” (Ammianus, xxxi, 6).
I apply the description of Zosimus (ii, 30) to this wall of Gallienus
(so to call it), which probably included a larger area, taking in the
Hippodrome and other buildings of Severus.
[37] The tops of the various hills can now be distinguished by the
presence of the following well-known buildings: 1. St. Sophia; 2. Burnt
Pillar; 3. Seraskier’s Tower; 4. Mosque of Mohammed II; 5. Mosque of
Selim; 6. Mosque of Mihrimah (Gate of Adrianople); 7. Seven Towers
(south-west extremity). The highest point in the city is the summit of
the sixth hill, 291 ft. (Grosvenor).
[38] The last reach of the Barbyses runs through a Turkish pleasure
ground and is well known locally as the “Sweet Waters of Europe.”
[39] Procopius, De Aedific., i, 11.
[40] Notwithstanding the southerliness of these regions, natives of
the Levant have always been well acquainted with frost and snow. Thus
wintry weather is a favourite theme with Homer:
ἤματι χειμερίῳ...
κοιμήσας δ’ ἁνέμους χέει ἔμπεδον, ὄφρα καλύψῃ
ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων κορυφὰς καὶ πρώονας ἄκρους,
καὶ πεδία λωτεῦντα καὶ ἀνδρῶν πίονα ἔργα,
καί τ’ ἐφ’ ἁλὸς πολιῆς κέχυται λιμέσιν τε καὶ ακταῖς,
κῦμα δέ μιν προσπλάζον ἐρύκεται· ἄλλα τε πάντα
εἰλύαται καθύπερθ’ ὅτ ἐπιβρίση Διὸς ὔμβρας.
_Iliad_, xii, 279, κ.τ.λ.
[41] His reasons for this step can only be surmised. A political motive
is scarcely suggested. A second capital cannot have been required to
maintain what Rome had conquered, and was soon made an excuse for
dissolving the unity of the Empire. His nascent zeal for Christianity,
by which he incurred unpopularity at pagan Rome, has been supposed to
have prejudiced him against the old capital, and moved him to build
another in which the new religion should reign supreme, but these
opinions emanate only from writers actuated more or less by bigotry.
Although he virtually presided at the Council of Nice and accepted
baptism on his death-bed, that he was ever a Christian by conviction
is altogether doubtful. For a _résumé_ see Boissier, Revue des Deux
Mondes, July, 1886; also Burchardt’s Constantine.
[42] For the founding of Constantinople see Gyllius (De Topogr. CP., i,
3), but especially Ducange (CP. Christiana, i, p. 23 _et seq._), who
has brought together a large number of passages from early and late
writers. According to a nameless author (Muller, Frag. Hist., iv, p.
199), Constantine was at one time in the habit of exclaiming: “My Rome
is Sardica.” He was born and bred in the East, and hence all his tastes
would naturally lead him to settle on that side of the Empire.
[43] It may have been earlier. Petavius (in Ducange) fixes this date,
Baronius makes it 325 (_c._ 95).
[44] Plutarch, De Defect. Orac. He explains it by the death of the
daemons who managed them. These semi-divinities, though long-lived,
were not immortal.
[45] See Ducange, _loc. cit._, p. 24.
[46] Philostorgius, ii, 9. Copied or repeated with embellishment, but
not corroborated, by later writers, as Nicephorus Cal., viii, 4; Anon.
(Banduri), p. 15; Codinus, p. 75. Eusebius is silent where we should
expect him to be explicit. The allusion in Cod. Theod., XIII, v, 7,
seems to be merely a pious expression.
[47] The result of Diocletian’s persecution must have shown every
penetrating spirit that Christianity had “come to stay”: the numerous
converts of the better classes were nearly all fanatics compared with
Pagans of the same class, who were languid and indifferent about
religion. He indulged both parties from time to time.
[48] Zosimus, ii, 30, Anon. Patria (Banduri, p. 4), and indications in
Notitia Utriusque Imperii, etc., in which the length of Constantine’s
city is put down at 14,705 Roman feet. From Un Kapani on the Golden
Horn (near old bridge) it swept round the mosque of Mohammed II, passed
that of Exi Mermer, and turned south-east so as to strike the sea near
Et Jemes, north-east of Sand-gate. I am describing the imaginary line
drawn by Mordtmann (Esquisses topogr. de CP., 1891), who has given us a
critical map without a scale to measure it by. It was not finished till
after Constantine’s death, Julian, Orat., i, p. 41, 1696.
[49] Anon. (Banduri) and Codinus _passim_; Eusebius, Vit. Constant.,
iii, 54, etc.; Jerome, Chron., viii, p. 678 (Migne).
[50] Zosimus, ii, 31.
[51] Or Florentia (blooming). Jn. Malala, xiii, p. 320, etc. Everything
was done in imitation of Rome, which, as John Lydus tells us (De Mens.,
iv, 50), had three names, mystic, sacerdotal, and political—Amor,
Flora, Rome.
[52] Cedrenus, i, p. 495; Zonaras, xiii, 3. Eusebius knows nothing of
it. See Ducange’s collection of authorities (CP. Christ., i, p. 24),
all late, _e.g._, Phrantzes, iii, 6.
[53] Anon. (Banduri), p. 5; Codinus, p. 20. The stories of these
writers do not deserve much credit. Glycas, however, accepts the tale
and is a sounder authority, iv, p. 463. “It is well known that the
flower of your nobility was translated to the royal city of the East,”
said Frederic Barbarossa, addressing the Roman Senate in 1155 (Otto
Frising. Muratori, Rer. Ital. Script., vi, 721).
[54] Eunapius in Aedesius. Burchardt jeers at C. and his new citizens.
[55] Idatius, Descript. Consul. (Migne, S. L., li, 908). The accepted
date.
[56] Jn. Lydus, De Mensibus, iv, 2. “A bloodless sacrifice” (Jn.
Malala, p. 320). According to later writers (Anon., Banduri, etc.) the
“Kyrie Eleison” was sung, a statement we can easily disbelieve.
[57] Jn. Malala, xiii, p. 321; Chron. Paschal., i, p. 529.
[58] Anon. (Banduri), p. 4. _Ibid._ (Papias), p. 84.
[59] In cloaks and Byzantine buskins, “chlaenis et campagis” (Κάμπαγος
or κομβαῶν). For the latter see Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. Antiq.,
_sb. voc._ They covered the toe and heel, leaving the instep bare to
the ground.
[60] Jn. Malala and Chron. Paschal., _loc. cit._, etc.
[61] M. Glycas, iv, p. 463. Eusebius does not describe the founding
of CP., doubtless because he saw nothing in it pertinent to Christian
piety, of which only he professes to treat (τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεοφιλῆ), Vit.
Const., i, 11.
[62] The name occurs in Cod. Theod. from 323 onwards, but also as a
palpable error at an earlier date. See Haenel’s Chronological Index. It
is thought coins stamped CP. were issued as early as 325 (Smith, Dict.
Christ. Biog., i, p. 631). Had Constantine fixed on any other place it
is probable that “New Rome” would have passed into currency as easily
as “New York.” But the Greeks did not call their city Constantinople
till later centuries. Thus with Procopius, the chief writer of the
sixth century, it is always still Byzantium.
[63] Socrates, i, 16; Sozomen, ii, 3; Cod. Theod., XIV, xiii, etc.
[64] Socrates, _loc. cit._
[65] Anon. Valesii, 30.
[66] The last Roman emperor, in name only, Romulus Augustulus,
abdicated in 476, but long before that date the Empire had been
gradually falling to pieces. In 410 Alaric sacked Rome; by 419
the Goths had settled in the south of France and the Vandals had
appropriated Spain; in 439 Genseric took possession of Africa; in 446
Britain was abandoned; in 455 Rome was again sacked (by Genseric), etc.
[67] Ciampini (De Sacr. Aedific., a C. Mag., etc., Rome, 1693),
enumerates twenty-seven. Eusebius says many (Vit. C., iii, 48). It is
curious, however, that the dialogue Philopatris (in Lucian) gives an
impression that in or after 363 (Gesner’s date, formerly accepted)
churches were so few and inconspicuous that the bulk of the population
knew nothing about them. The Notitia, again, half a century later,
reckons only fourteen within the city proper, including Sycae (Galata).
Probably, therefore, these twenty-seven churches attributed to
Constantine are mostly suppositious, for even in the reign of Arcadius
it would seem that there were not many more than half that number.
[68] Socrates, i, 16. Two only, as if Constantine had built no more.
[69] Chron. Paschal., i, p. 531.
[70] Eusebius, iv, 58. _Op. cit._
[71] Anon. (Banduri), p. 45; Codinus, p. 72.
[72] Hesychius, _op. cit._, 15 (Codinus, p. 6).
[73] Cicero (Orat. De Prov. Consul., 4) says that Byzantium was
“refertissimam atque ornatissimam signis,” a statement which doubtless
applies chiefly to works of art preserved in temples. The buildings
would remain and be restored, notwithstanding the many vicissitudes
through which the town passed. The Anon. (Banduri, p. 2) says that
ruins of a temple of Zeus, columns and arches, were still seen on the
Acropolis (first hill) in the twelfth century.
[74] Eunapius, _loc. cit._, Themistius, Orats., Paris, 1684, pp. 182,
223, “equal to Rome”; Sozomen, “more populous than Rome”; Novel lxxx
forbids the crowding of provincials to CP.
[75] Cod. Theod., XV, i. 51; Socrates, vii, 1, etc.
[76] Marcellinus, Chron. (Migne, li, 927). See also Evagrius, i, 17,
and Ducange, _op. cit._, i, p. 38.
[77] Priscus, Hist. Goth., p. 168. In 433.
[78] The work of Cyrus is not precisely defined by the Byzantine
historians, but Déthier (Der Bosph. u. CP., 1873, pp. 12, 50) and
Mordtmann (_op. cit._, p. 11) take this view. The words of one
inscription, “he built a wall to a wall” (ἐδείματο τείχεϊ τεῖχος),
support the theory. The walls of Theodosius were afterwards called the
“new walls” (Cod. Just., I, ii, 18; Novel lix, 5, etc.).
[79] On the Porta Rhegii or Melandesia, about halfway across. See
Paspates (Βυζαντιναὶ Μελέται, pp. 47, 50). They are preserved in the
Anthol. Graec. (Planudes), iv. 28. The gate called Xylocercus, with its
inscription, has disappeared.
[80] Marcellinus, _loc. cit._; Zonaras, xiii, 22; Nicephorus Cal.,
xiv, 1, confuses the work of the two men. The Anon. Patria (Banduri),
p. 20, says that the two factions of the circus, each containing eight
thousand men, were employed on the work. Beginning at either end,
they met centrally at a gate hence called “of many men” (Polyandra).
Mordtmann (_op. cit._, p. 28) wholly rejects this tale, as it does not
fit in with some of his identifications. It would, however, be well
suited to the P. Rhegii, where the existing inscriptions are found.
Some local knowledge must be conceded to an author of the twelfth
century, who probably lived on the spot. Wall-building was a _duty_ of
the factions.
[81] Dionysius caused the Syracusans to build the wall of Epipolae,
of about the same length, in twenty days (Diod. Sic., xiv, 18). The
Peloponnesians built a wall across the isthmus against Xerxes in a
short time (Herodotus, viii, 71, etc.). There was much extemporary
wall-building at Syracuse during the siege by Nicias (Thucydides, vi,
97, etc.). The wall of Crassus against Spartacus was nearly forty miles
long (Plutarch, Crassus). Except the first, however, these were more
or less temporary structures. Very substantial extempore walls are
frequently mentioned by both Greek and Latin historians as having been
erected during sieges, etc. See especially Caesar (i, 8) and Thucydides
(iii, 21, Siege of Plataea).
[82] The earliest and most reliable source is the Notitia Dignitatis
utriusque Imperii, etc., which dates from the time of Arcadius. To this
work is prefixed a short description of Rome and CP., which enumerates
the chief buildings, the number of streets, etc., in each division
of those cities. Next we have the Aedificia of Procopius, the matter
of which, however, does not come within the scope of the present
chapter. A gap of six centuries now occurs, which can only be filled
by allusions to be found in general and church historians, patristic
literature, etc. We then come to a considerable work, the Anonymous,
edited by A. Banduri (Venice, 1729), a medley of semi-historical and
topographical information, often erroneous, ascribed to the twelfth
century. A second edition of this work, introduced by the Byzantine
fragment of Hesychius of Miletus, passes under the name of Geo.
Codinus, who wrote about 1460. Here we draw the line between mediaeval
and modern authors, and we have next the Topography of CP., by P.
Gyllius, a Frenchman, who wrote on the spot about a century after the
Turkish conquest. His Thracian Bosphorus, which preserves much of
the lost Dionysius of Byzantium, is also valuable. Later still comes
the monumental CP. Christiana of Ducange (Paris, 1680), a mine of
research, by one of those almost mediaeval scholars, who spent their
lives in a library. Of contemporary treatises, which are numerous and
bulky, I will only mention the following, from which I have derived
most assistance: J. Labarte, Le Palais Impériale de CP., Paris,
1871; A. G. Paspates, Βυζαντιναὶ Μελέται, CP., 1877, and Βυζαντινα
Ανάκτορα, Athens, 1885; W. Mordtmann, Esquisses topographiques de
CP., Lille, 1891. Among books intended less for the archaeologist
than for popular perusal, the only one worthy of special mention is
Constantinople, Lond., 1895, by E. A. Grosvenor, a fine work, admirably
illustrated, but the author relies too implicitly on Paspates, and he
has emasculated his book for literary purposes by omitting references
to authorities. The book also contains several absurd mistakes, _e.g._,
“The careful historian who ... wrote under the name of Anonymos,”
etc., p. 313. To the above must now be added the important, Byzantine
CP., the Walls, by Van Millingen, Lond., 1899, a sound and critical
work. Another beautiful work has also been recently issued, viz.,
Beylié, L’Habitation byzantine, Grenoble, 1902. A wealth of authentic
illustrations renders it extremely valuable for the study of the
subject. This chapter was begun in 1896, and in the meantime scholars
have not been idle. As the Bonn Codinus gives inter-textually all the
passages of the anonymous Patria which differ, as well as an appendix
of anonymous archaeological tracts, I shall in future, for the sake of
brevity, refer to the whole as Codinus simply in that edition.
[83] That is the pierced dome elevated to a great height on
pendentives. The splendid dome of the Pantheon dates, of course, from
Hadrian, but the invention of the modern cupola may fairly be assigned
to the Byzantines. The conception, however, had to be completed by
raising it still higher on a _tour de dome_, the first example of which
is St. Augustine’s, Rome (1483); see Agincourt, Hist. of Art, i, 67.
[84] Procopius, De Aedific., i, 3; Nicephorus Cal., xv, 25.
[85] Κυκλόβιον or στρογγύλον; Procopius, _ibid._, iv, 8. Theophanes,
an. 6165, p. 541, etc. Possibly it looked like the tomb of Caecilia
Metella or a Martello Tower and was the prototype of the castle shown
on the old maps as the “Grand Turk’s Treasure-house,” built in 1458 by
Mohammed II within his fortress of the Seven Towers; Map by Caedicius,
CP., 1889; Ducas, p. 317; Laonicus, x, p. 529. Most likely, however, it
was a wall uniting five towers in a round. The Cyclobion is attributed
to Zeno, about 480; Byzantios, Κωνσταντινούπολις, i, 312;
Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 596.
[86] Grosvenor calls the existing road the remains of Justinian’s
“once well-paved triumphal way,” I have found no corroboration of
this assertion. From Constant. Porph. (De Cer. Aul. Byz., i, 18, 96,
etc.), I conclude there was no continuous road here for many centuries
afterwards. Paspates (_op. cit._, p. 13) thinks the last passage
alludes to it as πλακωτῆ, but this is evidently the highway to Rhegium,
etc. (Procop., De Aedific., iv, 8).
[87] Cod. VIII, x, 10; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 25; Cinnamus, ii,
14; Anthol. (Planudes), iv, 15, etc.
[88] This fount is still extant and accessible beneath the Greek church
of Baloukli (Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 485, etc.).
[89] Gyllius (Dionys. Byz.), De Bosp. Thrac., ii, 2; De Topog. CP., iv,
5.
[90] Suidas, _sub_ Anast. Mordtmann (_op. cit._, p. 33), thinks the
ruins existing at Tekfur Serai may represent the original Palace of
Blachernae, the basement, at least. It is commonly called the palace of
Constantine, etc., but Van Millingen proves it to be a late erection.
[91] Zonaras, xiii, 24; Codin., p. 95, etc.
[92] Const. Porph., De Cer. Aul. Byz., ii, 12. Still frequented
(Paspates, _op. cit._, p. 390, etc.).
[93] To “a man’s height” (Paspates).
[94] Paspates has all the credit of solving the problem of this moat
(_op. cit._, p. 7, etc.). It has been maintained that it was a dry
moat, owing to the physical impossibility of the sea flowing into it.
The words of Chrysoloras (Migne, Ser. Grk., vol. 156, etc.) are alone
sufficient to dispose of this error.
[95] This space seems to have been called the παρατείχιον; Const.
Porph., _loc. cit._; or rather, perhaps, the πρωτείχισμα; see
the Anon., Στρατηγική (Koechly, etc.), 12 (_c._ 550). Paspates calls it
the προτείχιον, “because,” says he, “I have found no name for it in the
Byzantine historians.”
[96] Ducas, 39, etc.; Paspates, _op. cit._, p. 6. It is, however, the
usual word for the walls of a city. Μεσοτείχιον and σταύρωμα
are more definite; Critobulos, i, 60. Paspates states that the ground
here has been raised six feet above its ancient level.
[97] Déthier, Nouv. recherch. à CP., 1867, p. 20; cf. Vegetius, iv, 1,
2, 3, etc. These walls have much similarity to the _agger_ of Servius
Tullius, but in the latter case the great wall forms the inner boundary
of the trench and the lesser wall, retaining the excavated earth, was
about fifty feet behind in the city. See Middleton’s Ancient Rome, etc.
[98] Paspates, _op. cit._, p. 17.
[99] _Ibid._, Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 584.
[100] Paspates, _op. cit._, p. 10. See also Texier and Pullan,
Architect. Byzant., Lond., 1864, pp. 24, 56, for diagrams illustrating
walls of the period. Some, unlike the wall of CP., had continuous
galleries in the interior. The towers were also used for quartering
soldiers when troops were massed in the vicinity of the city (Cod.
Theod., VII, viii, 13). There were about one hundred and two of the
great, and ninety of the small ones. Owners of land through which the
new wall passed had also reversionary rights to make use of the towers
(_Ibid._, XV, i, 51).
[101] The Roman plan of filling an outer shell with rubble and concrete
was adopted (Grosvenor, _loc. cit._). At present the walls appear as
a heterogeneous mass of stone and brick, showing that they have been
repaired hurriedly numbers of times. But little is left of the fifth
century structure. Some parts, better preserved, exhibit alternate
courses of stone and brick, a favourite style of building with the
Byzantines, but not dating further back than the seventh century
(Texier and Pullan, _op. cit._, p. 165).
[102] Paspates (_op. cit._, p. 14), to whom much more than to
historical indications we are indebted for our knowledge of these walls.
[103] Those who have a topographical acquaintance with Stamboul are
aware that at about three-quarters of a mile from the Golden Horn
the wall turns abruptly to the west and makes a circuit as if to
include a supplementary area of ground. It is well understood that
this part, which is single for the most part and without a moat, but
by compensation on a still more colossal scale, is the work of later
emperors—Heraclius, Leo Armenius, Manuel Comnenus, and Isaac Angelus
(600 to 1200). All traces of the wall of Theodosius, which ran inside,
have disappeared, according to Paspates, but Mordtmann thinks he can
recognize certain ruined portions (_op. cit._, p. 11 and Map).
[104] Or from Charisius, one of the masters of the works (Codin., p.
110).
[105] It appears that Anthemius in 413 (Cod. Theod., XV, i, 51) only
raised the great wall, and that in 447, when fifty-seven towers
collapsed (Marcellin. Com., A.D. 447; Chron. Pasch., 447, 450 A.D.),
Cyrus repaired the damage and added the lesser wall (Theophanes, an.
5937; Cedrenus, i, p. 598, and the words ἐδείματο τείχεϊ τεῖχος of the
inscription). Cedrenus states virtually that he demolished the wall and
replaced it by three others, alluding perhaps to the moat, but Cedrenus
is often wrong. All seven (or nine) chronographists relate more or less
exactly that Cyrus gained such popularity by his works that the public
acclamations offended the Emperor, who forced the tonsure on him and
sent him to Smyrna as bishop in the hope that the turbulent populace,
who had already killed four of their bishops, would speedily add him to
the number. By his ready wit, however, he diverted their evil designs
and won their respect. Zonaras, xiii, 22, and Nicephorus Cal., xiv, 1,
have an incorrect idea of the wall-building. According to the latter,
Anthemius was the man of speed. Malala mentions Cyrus, but not the wall.
[106] The Greek verses are given in the Anthology (Planudes, iv, 28).
The Latin I may reproduce here:
Theudosii jussis gemino nec mense peracto
Constantinus ovans haec moenia firma locavit.
Tam cito tam stabilem Pallas vix conderet arcem.
This epigram and its companion in Greek are still legible on the stone
of the Rhegium Gate (now of Melandesia). See Paspates, _op. cit._, pp.
47, 50. The Porta Xylocerci has practically disappeared.
[107] Mordtmann’s exposition of these gates is the most convincing
(_op. cit._, p. 16, etc.). I have omitted the Gate of the Seven Towers
as it has always been claimed as a Turkish innovation, a view, however,
which he rejects. In any case it was but a postern—there may have been
others such in the extinct section of the wall.
[108] That is an S, which at this period was formed roughly like our C.
[109] Cedrenus, ii, p. 173; or a personification of the city; Codin.,
p. 47.
[110] Zonaras, xv, 4.
[111] A fragment still exists on the northern tower. See Grosvenor,
_op. cit._, p. 591.
[112] Chrysoloras, _loc. cit._, Gyllius, De Top. CP., iv, 9.
[113] _Ibid._ Gyllius would seem to have been inside when making
these observations, but that would be within the fortress of Yedi
Koulé, rigorously guarded at that time. Doubtless the city side was
adorned, but no description of the gate as a whole is left to us. The
ornaments are only mentioned incidentally when recording damage done by
earthquakes (in their frequency often the best friends of the modern
archaeologist) and their arrangement can only be guessed at. Most
likely they were of gilded bronze, a common kind of statue among the
Byzantines. See Codinus, _passim_. The idea that the Golden Gate opened
into a fortress should be abandoned. The conception of the Seven Towers
seems to have originated with the Palaeologi in 1390, but Bajazet
ordered the demolition of the unfinished works (Ducas, 13), and it was
left to the Turkish conqueror to carry out the idea in 1458. See p. 26.
I may remark here that Mordtmann’s map has not been brought up to date
as regards his own text.
[114] Cedrenus, i, p. 675.
[115] _Ibid._, i, p. 567; Codin., pp. 26, 47; said to have been brought
from the temple of Mars at Athens.
[116] The first Golden Gate was erected, or rather transformed, by
Theodosius I, as the following epigram, inscribed on the gate, shows
(Corp. Inscript. Lat., Berlin, 1873, No. 735):
Haec loca Theudosius decorat post fata tyranni,
Aurea secla gerit, qui portam construit auro.
It was, of course, in the wall of Constantine (Codin., p. 122) and
seems to have remained to a late date—Map of Buondelmonte, Ducange, CP.
Christ., etc. For a probable representation see Banduri, Imp. Orient.,
ii, pl. xi. But Van Millingen (_op. cit._), having found traces of the
inscription on the remaining structure, considers there never was any
other. In that case it was at first a triumphal arch outside the walls.
[117] The remarkable structure known as the Marble Tower, rising from
the waters of the Marmora to the height of a hundred feet, near the
junction of the sea- and land-wall is of later date, but its founder is
unknown and it has no clear history in Byzantine times. See Mordtmann,
_op. cit._, p. 13.
[118] Glycas, iv; Codin., p. 128. A legend, perhaps, owing to _débris_
of walls ruined by earthquakes collecting there in the course of
centuries.
[119] See Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p. 60; Codin., p. 109.
[120] Codin., p. 101. Great hulks of timber were built to float
obelisks and marble columns over the Mediterranean; Ammianus, xvii, 4.
[121] _Ibid._, p. 102.
[122] Codin., pp. 49, 104.
[123] Notitia, Reg. 12.
[124] Codin., _loc. cit._
[125] Gyllius, De Top. CP., iv, 8.
[126] Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p. 59.
[127] Zosimus, iii, 11; Codin., p. 87.
[128] Notitia, Reg. 3. We hear of a trumpet-tower (βύκινον, Codin.,
p. 86; βύκανον, Nicetas Chon., p. 733) by this harbour fitted with
a “siren” formed of brass pipes, whose mouths protruding outside
resounded when they caught the wind blowing off the sea. Ducange,
i, p. 13, thinks a later fable has risen out of the vocal towers of
Byzantium. “Sic nugas nugantur Graeculi nugigeruli,” says Banduri (ii,
p. 487). There was certainly a watch-tower here, but of origin and date
unknown. Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p. 55.
[129] Codin., _loc. cit._
[130] Marcel. Com., an. 409.
[131] Suidas, _sb._, Anast. In a later age this port was enlarged and
defended by an iron grill. Anton. Novog. in Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p.
55.
[132] About fifty feet above it; for a photograph of the existing ruins
see Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 388. Also Van Millingen’s work and others.
[133] William of Tyre, xx, 25.
[134] Anna Comn., iii, 1.
[135] Zonaras, xv, 25, etc.; Const. Porph., i, 19, etc.
[136] Codin., p. 100, says the palace was founded by Theodosius II. The
group was probably ravished from some classic site at an early period
when the mania for decorating CP. was still rife. The existence of the
harbour at this date may be darkly inferred from Socrates, ii, 16;
Sozomen, iii, 9; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 24; Theophanes, an. 6003.
Τὰς πύλας τοῦ βασιλείου πανταχόθεν ἀπέκλεισεν, καἱ πλοῖα εἰς τὸ φυγεῖν,
τῷ παλατίῳ παρέστησεν; Theodore Lect., ii, 26. All these passages prove
the existence of a harbour approachable only from the palace, which
probably was then, or afterwards became, the Boukoleon. Van Millingen
(_op. cit._) gives good reasons for placing the Boukoleon on this site,
the only likely one (see Appendix). The name Boukoleon is not found in
literature before 800; Theoph., Cont., i, 11. From _ibid._, vi, 15,
it may be inferred that the main group of statuary had long been in
position.
[137] For his story see Zosimus, ii, 27; Ammianus, xvi, 10. He was a
Christian who escaped from prison to the court of Constantine; see
Appendix.
[138] Nicephorus Cal., xiv, 2, etc.
[139] _Ibid._, Niceph. Greg., iv, 2, etc.; Codin., De Offic. CP., 12.
[140] Ἡ Ὁδηγός. The place was called Ὁδηγήτρια; Codin., p. 80.
[141] _Ibid._
[142] Or a monastery for blind monks, perhaps; Niceph. Greg., xi, 9,
etc.
[143] Probably the Master of the Infantry under Theodosius I; Zosimus,
iv, 45, etc.
[144] It is said that those going from Byzantium to Chalcedon, at the
mouth of the Bosphorus on the Asiatic side, were obliged to start
from here and make a peculiar circuit to avoid adverse currents. See
Gyllius, _op. cit._, iii, 1.
[145] That is, the fig-region, Codin. (Hesych.), p. 6. Now Galata and
Pera.
[146] The Constantinopolitans generally confounded this name with the
legendary Phosphoros (see p. 5), and the geographical Bosporos. The
Notitia (Reg. 5) proves its real form and significance; also Evagrius,
ii, 13.
[147] Codin., pp. 52, 60, 188. This ox was believed to bellow once a
year to warn the city of the advent of some calamity (_ibid._, p. 60).
[148] _Ibid._, p. 113. The wall here formed another Sigma to surround
the inner sweep of the port. These two harbours we may suppose to be
those of Byzantium as known to Dion Cassius (see p. 7).
[149] A patrician, who came from Rome with Constantine and took a share
in adorning the city (Glycas, iv, p. 463), or another, who lived under
Theodosius I (Codin., p. 77).
[150] Codin., p. 114; Cedrenus, ii, p. 80; Leo Diac., p. 78. This tower
was standing up to 1817; see Κωνσταντινιαδε, Venice, 1824, p. 14, by
Constantius, Archbishop of CP. This appears to be the first attempt by
a modern Greek to investigate the antiquities of CP. He had to disguise
himself as a dervish to explore Stamboul, for which he was banished to
the Prince’s Islands, and his book was publicly burnt.
[151] Leo Diac. (_loc. cit._) explains how the chain was supported at
intervals on piles. It seems to have been first used in 717 by Leo
Isaurus; Theophanes, i, p. 609; Manuel Comn. even drew a chain across
the Bosphorus from CP. to the tower called Arcula (Maiden’s T., etc.),
which he constructed for the purpose (Nicetas Chon., vii, 3).
[152] Theophanes, an. 6024; Codin., p. 93. The “junction,” that of the
mules to the vehicle containing the relics of St. Stephen newly arrived
from Alexandria!
[153] Xenophon notices the plenty of timber on these coasts (Anab., vi,
2).
[154] Strabo, vii, 6; Gyllius, _op. cit._, iii, 9.
[155] Zosimus, ii, 35. This circumstance, and the fact that almost
all the towers along here bear the name of Theophilus (Paspates,
_op. cit._, p. 4), suggest that this side was not walled till the
ninth century. Chron. Paschal. (an. 439) doubtless refers only to the
completion of the wall on the Propontis. Grosvenor (p. 570) adopts this
view, but as usual without giving reasons or references. He is wrong in
saying that the chain was first broken in 1203 by the Crusaders; it was
broken in 823 (Cedrenus, p. 80; Zonaras, xv, 23). I do not credit the
statement of Sidonius Ap. (Laus Anthemii) that houses were raised in
the Propontis on foundations formed of hydraulic cement from Puteoli.
In any case, such could have been obtained much nearer, viz., across
the water at Cyzicus (Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxxv, 47). The Bp. of Clermont
never visited CP.
[156] Notitia, Reg. 14. There was a populous suburb at Blachernae,
which had walls of its own before Theodosius included it within the
city proper.
[157] Codin., pp. 30, 120; Suidas, _sb._ Mamante (St. Mamas, however,
appears to have been outside the walls; Theophanes, an. 6304, etc.);
Glycas, iv. Versions of the same story, probably. Gyllius’ memory fails
him on this occasion.
[158] Ἀργυρολίμνη; see Paspates, _op. cit._, p. 68.
[159] Chrysoloras, _loc. cit._ The Notitia enumerates fifty-two, which
we may understand to be pairs, before the enlargement by Theodosius.
[160] Codin., p. 22. In this account the patricians, who accompanied
Constantine, are represented as undertaking many of the public
buildings at their own expense. See also Nonius Marc. (in Pancirolo ad
Notit.). In this case a testator wills that a portico with silver and
marble statues be erected in his native town.
[161] Cod. Theod., XV, i, 44; iv; vii, 12, etc., with Godfrey’s
commentary. The imperial portraits were painted in white on a blue
ground; Chrysostom, 1 Cor., x, 1 (in Migne, iii, 247). “The countenance
of the Emperor must be set up in courts, market-places, assemblies,
theatres, and wherever business is transacted, that he may safeguard
the proceedings”; Severianus, De Mund. Creat., vi, 5 (apud. Chrysost.,
Migne, vi, 489).
[162] Cod. Theod., _loc. cit._; Philostorgius, ii, 17.
[163] _Ibid._, IX, xliv; Institut., i, 8. On proof the master could
be compelled to sell the slave on the chance of his acquiring more
congenial service, but the privilege was often abused.
[164] _Ibid._, XV, vii, 12.
[165] _Ibid._, XV, i, 52.
[166] _Ibid._, 53; Vitruvius, v, 11, etc.
[167] Cod., VIII, x, 12. A Greek Constitution of Zeno of considerable
length, and uniquely instructive on some points. These οἰκήματα were
limited to six feet of length and seven of height.
[168] Novel cxxxvi; Plato, Apol., 17, etc.
[169] Whence called _emboliariae_ (ἰμβολος being Byzantine for portico).
So say Alemannus _ad_ Procop. (Hist. Arcan., p. 381) and his copyist
Byzantios (_op. cit._, i, p. 113), but Pliny seems to use the word for
an actress in interludes (H. N., vii, 49), an occupation not, however,
very different.
[170] Theophanes, Cont., p. 417. In the severe winter of 933, Romanus
Lecapenus blocked the interspaces and fitted them with windows and
doors.
[171] They are, in fact, called the “narrows” in the Greek στενωποί.
[172] Παρακύπτικος, Cod., _loc. cit._
[173] Texier and Pullan, _op. cit._, p. 4; Agincourt, Hist. of Art, i,
pl. 25. Mica or talc (_lapis specularis_) was commonly used at Rome
for windows (Pliny, H. N., xxxvi, 45). Gibbon rather carelessly says
that Firmus (_c._ 272) had glass windows; they were vitreous squares
for wall decoration (Hist. August., _sb._ Firmo). Half a century later
Lactantius is clear enough—“fenestras lucente vitro aut speculari
lapide obductas” (De Opif. Dei, 8). Pliny tells us that clear glass was
most expensive, and, six centuries later, Isidore of Seville makes the
same remark (Hist. Nat., xxxvi, 67; Etymologies, xvi, 16).
[174] The climate of the East requires that windows shall generally be
kept open; even shutters are often dispensed with.
[175] See Cod. Theod., XV, i, De Op. Pub., _passim_. This legislation
was initiated by Leo Thrax, probably after the great fire of 469 (Jn.
Malala; Chron. Pasch., etc.).
[176] Zosimus, ii, 35.
[177] Cod., _loc. cit._
[178] Agathias, v, 3.
[179] A century earlier there were 322 according to the Notitia.
[180] Zeno, Cod., _loc. cit._
[181] We know little of the _insulae_ or συνοικίαι of CP., but we can
conceive of no other kind of private house requiring such an elevation.
Besides, _insulae_ are the subject of an argument in Cod., VIII,
xxxviii, 15 (enacted at CP. about this time).
[182] Chrysostom, In Psal. xlviii, 8 (Migne, v, 510); Agathias, _loc.
cit._; Texier and Pullan, _loc. cit._
[183] Niceph. Greg., viii, 5. Merely a tradition in his time; it is
commonly called the column of Theodosius. Grosvenor absurdly places on
it an equestrian statue of Theodosius I, with an epigram which belongs
to another place; _op. cit._, p. 386; see _infra._ Founded on a rock,
it has withstood the commotions of seventeen centuries.
[184] Hist. August., _sb._ Gallieno. Much more likely than Claudius II;
everything points to its being a local civic memorial. “Pugnatum est
circa Pontum, et a Byzantiis ducibus victi sunt barbari. Veneriano item
duce, navali bello Gothi superati sunt, tum ipse militari periit morte”
(_c._ 266).
[185] “Fortunae reduci ob devictos Gothos.” The Goths had been in
possession of Byzantium and the adjacent country on both sides of the
water; G. Syncell., i, p. 717, etc.; Zosimus, i, 34, etc. There was a
temple to Gallienus at Byzantium; Codinus, p. 179. He was evidently
popular here.
[186] Jn. Lydus, De Mens., iii, 48.
[187] Codin., p. 74; Glycas, iv, p. 468.
[188] _Ibid._
[189] Codin., p. 31; Notitia, Reg. 2.
[190] Zosimus, ii, 31.
[191] Jn. Lydus, De Mens., iv, 86; Codinus, pp. 15, 28.
[192] See the plates in Banduri, _op. cit._, ii; repeated in Agincourt
on a small scale, _op. cit._, ii, 11; i, 27. Déthier (_op. cit._)
throws some doubt on the accuracy of these delineations, the foundation
of which the reader can see for himself in Agincourt without resorting
to the athleticism imposed on himself by Déthier. The Erechtheum shows
that the design could be varied, the Pantheon that the dome was in use
long before this date; see Texier and Pullan, etc.
[193] Leo Gram., p. 126, etc.
[194] Codin., p. 60; Theophanes, i, p. 439.
[195] His architect was named Aetherius; Cedrenus, i, p. 563. Probably
a short but wide colonnade flanked by double ranges of pillars; Anthol.
(Plan.), iv. 23.
[196] Several names are given to these palatines or palace guards,
but it is not always certain which are collective and which special.
Procopius mentions the above; the Scholars were originally Armenians
(Anecdot. 24, 26, etc.). Four distinct bodies can be collected from
Const. Porph. De Cer. Aul. Codinus (p. 18) attributes the founding of
their quarters to Constantine; see Cod. Theod., VI, and Cod., XII. All
the household troops were termed Domestics, horse and foot; Notit. Dig.
[197] See Const. Porph., De Cer. Aul., _passim_, with Reiske’s note on
the Candidati.
[198] Codin., p. 18; Chron. Pasch. (an. 532) calls them porticoes.
[199] See an illustration in Gori, Thesaur. Vet. Diptych.; reduced in
Agincourt, _op. cit._, ii, 12, also another in Montfaucon containing
a female figure supposed to be the Empress Placidia Galla; III, i, p.
46 (but Gori makes it a male figure!). The _kiborion_ (a cup), also
called _kamelaukion_ (literally a sort of head covering), was sometimes
fixed, in which case the columns might be of marble. Silver pillars are
mentioned in Const. Porph., _op. cit._, i, 1; cf. Texier and Pullan,
_op. cit._, p. 135, a cut of an elaborate silver _kiborion_. From Gori
it may be seen that the design of these state chairs is almost always
that of a seat supported at each of the front corners by a lion’s head
and claw, etc.
[200] Built by Constantine; Codin., p. 18.
[201] Another foundation of Constantine, clearly enough from Chron.
Pasch. (an. 328, p. 528), as Labarte remarks (_op. cit._, p. 137).
[202] Codin., p. 100; it had been brought from Rome. I prefer this
indigenous explanation to the surmise of Reiske (Const. Porph., _op.
cit._, ii, p. 49), that it was here that the victors in the games
received their crowns of laurel (Δάφνη):
Nay, lady, sit; if I but wave this wand,
Your nerves are all bound up in alabaster,
And you a statue, or, as Daphne was,
Root-bound that fled Apollo.
MILTON’S Comus.
[203] Codin., p. 101; the most likely position, as a surmise.
[204] Jn. Malala, xvi; Zonaras, xiv, 3, etc.
[205] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., ii, 21, etc. “Three decurions
marshalled the thirty brilliantly armed Silentiaries who paced
backwards and forwards before the purple veil guarding the slumber of
the sovereign”; Hodgkin, Cassiodorus, p. 88.
[206] Codin., p. 101; see the plans of Labarte and Paspates.
[207] Built by Constantine according to Codinus (p. 19) as emended by
Lambecius. The original palace extended eastward to the district called
Τόποι (_ibid._, p. 79), on the shore near the Bucoleon.
[208] The conception of the sanctity of the Emperor’s person, which
originated in the adulation of the proconsuls of the eastern provinces
by the Orientals and in the subservience of the Senate to Augustus,
attained its height under Diocletian (_c._ 300), who first introduced
at Court the Oriental forms of adoration and prostration (Eutropius,
ix, etc.). It was probably even increased under the Christian emperors,
and Theodosius I was enabled to promulgate a law that merely to doubt
the correctness of the Emperor’s opinion or judgement constituted a
sacrilege (Cod., IX, xxix, 3, etc.).
[209] Cod. Theod., VI, viii; Cod., XII, v.
[210] Theophanes, Cont., iv, 35; cf. Symeon, Mag., p. 681, where the
invention is ascribed to Bp. Leo of Thessalonica under Theophilus. The
stations by which an inroad of the Saracens was reported _c. 800_ are
here given. Its use for signalling at this date cannot be asserted
definitely, but it was a relic of old Byzantium erected as a nautical
light-house; Ammianus, xxii, 8.
[211] Codin., p. 81; the particular area to which this name was applied
seems to have been a polo ground; Theoph., Cont., v, 86, and Reiske’s
note to Const. Porph., ii, p. 362. It was encompassed by flower gardens.
[212] Marrast has given us his notion of these gardens at some length:
“Entre des haies de phyllyrea taillées de façon de figurer des lettres
grecques et orientales, des sentiers dallés de marbre aboutissaient à
un phialée entourée de douze dragons de bronze.... Une eau parfumée
en jaillissait et ruisselait par dessus les branches des palmiers
et des cedres dorés jusqu’à hauteur d’homme. Des paons de la Chine,
des faisans et des ibis, volaient en liberté dans les arbres ou
s’abattaient sur le sol, semé d’un sable d’or apporté d’Asie à grands
frais.” La vie byzantine au VI^e siècle, Paris, 1881, p. 67.
[213] Labarte gives these walls, towers, etc. Doubtless the palace was
well protected from the first, but did not assume the appearance of an
actual fortress till the tenth century under Nicephorus Phocas; Leo
Diac., iv, 6.
[214] Codin., p. 95 (?); Const. Porph., i, 21, etc. Probably a
structure like the elevated portico at Antioch mentioned by Theodoret,
iv, 26.
[215] Luitprand, Antapodosis, i, 6. A legend of a later age, no
doubt, which may be quietly interred with Constantine’s gift to
Pope Sylvester. We hear nothing of it in connection with Arcadius,
Theodosius II, etc., and it is only foreshadowed in 797 by a late
writer (Cedrenus, ii, p. 27), who would assume anything. The epithet
became fashionable in the tenth century. One writer thinks the name
arose from a ceremonial gift of purple robes to the wives of the court
dignitaries at the beginning of each winter by the empress; Theoph.,
Cont., iii, 44.
[216] Anna Comn., vii, 2.
[217] The archaeological student may refer to the elaborate
reconstructions by Labarte and Paspates of the palace as it existed in
the tenth century. Their conceptions differ considerably, the former
writer being generally in close accord with the literary indications.
Paspates is too Procrustean in his methods, and unduly desirous of
identifying every recoverable fragment of masonry. Their works are
based almost entirely on the Book of Ceremonies of Constantine VII,
but even if such a manual existed for the date under consideration the
historical reader would soon tire of an exposition setting forth the
order and decoration of a hundred chambers.
[218] Codin., pp. 16, 130.
[219] This name is understood to refer, not to a female saint, but to
the Holy Wisdom ( Ἅγια Σοφία), the Λόγος, the Word, _i.e._, Christ;
Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 6, etc.
[220] Lethaby and Swainson give good reasons for supposing that this
early church opened to the east; St. Sophia, etc., Lond., 1894, p. 17.
It was burnt in the time of Chrysostom, but apparently repaired without
alteration of design.
[221] Ambo, plainly from ἀναβαίνω, to ascend, not, as some imagine,
from the double approach; Reiske, Const. Porph., ii, p. 112; Letheby
and S., _op. cit._, p. 53.
[222] The gift of Pulcheria, presented as a token of the perpetual
virginity to which she devoted herself and her sisters; Sozomen, ix,
1; Glycas, iv, p. 495. The Emperor used to sit in the _Bema_, but St.
Ambrose vindicated its sanctity to the priestly caste by expelling
Theodosius I; Sozomen, vii, 25, etc.
[223] Socrates, vi, 5; Sozomen, viii, 5.
[224] Codin., pp. 16, 64. There is no systematic description of
this church, but the numerous references to it and an examination
of ecclesiastical remains of the period show clearly enough what it
was; see Texier and Fullan, _op. cit._, p. 134, etc.; Agincourt, _op.
cit._, i, pl. iv, xvi; Eusebius, Vit. Const., iv, 46, etc. It may have
been founded by Constantine, but was certainly dedicated by his son
Constantius in 360; Socrates, ii, 16.
[225] _Ibid._
[226] Procopius, De Aedific., i, 2, etc.
[227] Codin., p. 83; cf. Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p. 4.
[228] We know little of the Magnaura or Great Hall (_magna aula_) at
this date, but its existence is certain; Chron. Paschal., an. 532.
Codinus says it was built by Constantine (p. 19).
[229] Theophanes, Cont., v, 92, etc.
[230] Const. Porph., ii, 15. The author professes to draw his precepts
from the ancients, but his “antiquity” sometimes does not extend
backwards for more than half a century.
[231] Codin., pp. 14, 36; Zonaras, xiv, 6, etc. Zeuxippus is either a
cognomen of Zeus or of the sun, or the name of a king of Megara; Chron.
Paschal., an. 197, etc.; Jn. Lydus, De Magist., iii, 70.
[232] Sozomen, iii, 9.
[233] Anthology (Planudes), v.
[234] Cedrenus, i, p. 648; cf. Anthol. (Plan.), v, 61.
[235] The vast baths of the Empire, as is well known, were evolved into
a kind of polytechnic institutes for study and recreation.
[236] Chron. Pasch., an. 450. Artificial lighting was first introduced
by Alex. Severus; Hist. August.; Cod. Theod., XV, i, 52; Cod., XI, i,
1, etc.
[237] Cedrenus, i, p. 648.
[238] Codin., p. 83; cf. Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p. 66.
[239] Zosimus, iii, 11. It contained 120,000 volumes, the pride of the
library being a copy of Homer inscribed on the intestine of a serpent
120 feet long. The building, however, was gutted by fire in the reign
of Zeno; Zonaras, xiv, 2, etc.
[240] Suidas, _sb._ Menandro; Agathias, iii, 1; Procop., De Aedific.,
i, 11.
[241] Zonaras, xiv, 6; Marcellinus, Com., an. 390, etc.
[242] Socrates, vi, 18; Theophanes, an. 398; Sozomen (viii, 20)
says merely an inaugural festival. The pedestal, with a bilingual
inscription, was uncovered of late years, precisely where we should
expect it to have stood, and yet Paspates (Βυζαντινὰ Ανάκτορα, p.
95) in his map removes it a quarter of a mile southwards to meet his
reconstructive views, cf. Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p. 64.
[243] Codin., p. 35.
[244] _Ibid._, p. 19. There is now an Ottoman fountain on the same
site. In the case of doubtful identifications, I usually adopt the
conclusions of Mordtmann (_op. cit._, p. 64).
[245] _Milliarium Aureum_ (Notitia, Reg. 4). In imitation of that set
up by Augustus in the Roman Forum; Tacitus, Hist., i, 27, etc.
[246] Cedrenus, i, p. 564; Codin., pp. 28, 35, 168, etc. Byzantios and
Paspates speak of an upper storey supported by seven pillars, on the
strength of some remains unearthed in 1848, but the situation does
not seem to apply to this monument as at present located; see also
Grosvenor (_op. cit._, p. 298) for an illustration of the figures.
[247] Codin., p. 40. Removed to Hippodrome, perhaps, at this date.
In any case the scrappy and contradictory records only allow of a
tentative restoration of the Milion. Close by was the death-place
of Arius, in respect of whom, with Sabellius and other heretics,
Theodosius I set up a sculptured tablet devoting the spot to public
defilement with excrement, etc. (_ibid._). Such were the manners and
fanaticism of the age.
[248] Zosimus, iii, 11.
[249] Gyllius, De Topog. CP., ii, 13.
[250] The method of construction can be seen in the sketch of the
ruins (_c. 1350_) brought to light by Panvinius (De Ludis Circens.,
Verona, 1600) and reproduced by Banduri and Montfaucon. As to whether
the intercolumnar spaces were adorned with statues we have no
information. The wealth of such works of art at Constantinople would
render it extremely likely. Cassiodorus says the statues at Rome were
as numerous as the living inhabitants (Var. Ep., xv, 7). We know from
existing coins that the Coliseum was so ornamented (see Maffei, Degl’
Amfitheatri, Verona, 1728; Panvinius, _op. cit._, etc.). High up there
appears to have been a range of balconies all round (Cod. Theod., XV,
i, 45).
[251] They were of wood till 498, when they were burnt, but what time
restored in marble is unknown; Chron. Pasch., an. 498; Buondelmonte,
Descript. Urb. CP., 1423.
[252] Codin., p. 14, etc. These substructions still exist; Grosvenor,
_op. cit._, p. 303.
[253] Const. Porph., _op. cit._, ii, 20; Nicetas Chon., De Man. Com.,
iii, 5. Eight, or perhaps twelve, open-barred gates separated the
Manganon (more often in the plural, Mangana) from the arena; see the
remains in the engraving of Panvinius.
[254] Const. Porph., i, 68, 92, etc.; Agincourt, _op. cit._, ii, pl.
10. The latter gives copies of bas-reliefs in which the Emperor is
shown sitting in his place in the Circus (see below). Procopius calls
it simply the throne; De Bel. Pers., i, 24; cf. Jn. Malala, p. 320;
Chron. Pasch., an. 498. Originally, it appears, merely the seat or
throne, but afterwards the whole tribunal or edifice.
[255] Const. Porph., i, 9, 92. It was also called the Pi (Π) from its
shape; _ibid._, i, 69.
[256] Named the Cochlea or snail-shell; it seems to have been a
favourite gangway for assassinating obnoxious courtiers; Jn. Malala, p.
344; Chron. Pasch., an. 380; Theophanes, an. 5969; Codin., p. 112, etc.
[257] Const. Porph., i, 68; cf. Procop., De Bel. Pers., i, 24.
[258] Const. Porph., i, 63; Codin., p. 100. The Circus, begun by
Severus, was finished by Constantine; Codin., pp. 14, 19; see Ducange,
_sb. nom._
[259] Euripus (Εὔριπος). I. The narrow strait at Chalcis, said to ebb
and flow seven times a day; Strabo, x, 2; Suidas, _sb. v._ II. Tr. Any
artificial ornamental pool or channel, partic. if oblong; see refs.
in Latin Dicts., esp. Lewis and S. III. A canal round the area of the
Roman Circus, to shield the spectators from the attack of infuriated
beasts; devised apparently by Tarquinius Priscus; Dionysius Hal., iii,
68; rather by Julius Caesar, and abolished by Nero; Pliny, H. N.,
viii, 7, etc. IV. Restored by, or in existence under, Elagabalus as a
pool in the centre; Hist. Aug., 23; so Cassiodorus, Var. Ep., iii, 51;
Jn. Malala, vii, p. 175 (whence Chron. Pasch., Olymp., vii, p. 208;
Cedrenus, i, p. 258); Lyons and Barcelona mosaics (see Daremberg and S.
Dict. Antiq.). V. The name tr. to whole Spine by Byzantines; Jn. Lydus,
De Mens., i, 12, Εὔριπος ὠνομάσθη ἡ μέσον τοῦ ἱπποδρόμου κρηπίς; Const.
Porph., _op. cit._, pp. 338, 345; Cedrenus, ii, p. 343, etc. Labarte
seems strangely to have missed all but one of the numerous allusions to
the Euripus; _op. cit._, p. 53. This note is necessary, as no one seems
to have caught the later application of the name.
[260] This monument still exists; see Agincourt, _loc. cit._, for
reproduction of the sculptures, etc.
[261] Notitia, Col. Civ. This name was not bestowed on it by Gyllius,
as Labarte thinks (p. 50). It remains in position in a dilapidated
condition; see Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 320, etc.
[262] Also in evidence at the present day; see Grosvenor’s photographs
of the three, pp. 320, 380. It is mentioned by Herodotus (ix, 80); and
by Pausanias (x, 13), who says the golden tripod was made away with
before his time. Some of the Byzantines, however, seem to aver that
Constantine had regained possession of that memorial; Eusebius, Vit.
Const., iii, 54; Codin., p. 55; Zosimus, ii, 31, etc. It appears that
the defacement of this monument was carried out methodically during
a nocturnal incantation under Michael III, _c. 835_. At the dead of
night “three strong men,” each armed with a sledge-hammer, stood over
it (Ἐν τοῖς εἰς τὸν εὔριπον (see p. 62) τοῦ ἱπποδρομίου χαλκοῖς
ἀνδριᾶσιν ἐλέγετό τις εἶναι ἀνδριὰς τρισὶ διαμορφούμενος κεφαλαῖς)
prepared to knock off the respective heads on the signal being given
by an unfrocked abbot. The hammers fell, two of the heads rolled to
the ground, but the third was only partly severed, the lower jaw, of
course, remaining; Theoph., Cont., p. 650; Cedrenus, ii, p. 145. On the
capture of the city in 1453 the fragment left was demolished by Mahomet
II with a stroke of his battle-axe to prove the strength of his arm on
what was reputed to be a talisman of the Greeks; Thévenot, Voyage au
Levant, etc., 1664, i, 17, “la maschoire d’embas.” So history, as it
seems, has given itself the trouble to account for the mutilation of
this antique. I must note, however, that neither Buondelmonte, Gyllius,
Busbecq, Thévenot, nor Spon, has described the damages it had sustained
at the time they are supposed to have contemplated the relic. See also
Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 381, whose account is scarcely intelligible
and is not based on references to any authorities.
[263] Nicetas Chon., De Signis CP. This figure appears to be delineated
in the plate of Panvinius, which, however, is not very reliable, as
both the Colossus and the Serpent-pillar are absent from it.
[264] Codin., p. 124. Probably, and supplanted at a later date by one
of Irene Attica. This is the literal Euripus.
[265] Theophanes, an. 699. That the Empress sat in this lodge to
view the races (Buondelmonte) is beyond all credence, nor is there
any authority for placing it to one side among the public seats
(Grosvenor’s diagram), where her presence would be equally absurd. Her
bust may have appeared in it beside that of her husband. It is clearly
indicated in its true place on the engineering sculptures of the
Theodosian column (see above).
[266] Nicetas Chon., De Alexio, iii, 4; De Signis; Codin., p. 39. First
at Tarentum; Plutarch, in Fabius Max., etc. To the knee it measured the
height of an ordinary man.
[267] Nicetas Chon., De Signis; also celebrated by Christodorus,
Anthology, _loc. cit._
[268] The eggs in honour of Castor and Pollux; Tertullian, De
Spectaculis, 8:
Κάστορά θ’ ἱππόδαμον καὶ πὺξ ἀγαθὸν Πολυδεύκεα.
Iliad, iii.
The dolphins probably referred to Neptune, to whom the horse was sacred.
[269] See Lyons and Barcelona mosaics as referred to above.
[270] See the coins, etc., in Panvinius, which show that these cones
with their stands were about fifteen to twenty feet high. Sometimes
they rested on the ends of the Spina, at others on separate foundations
three or four feet off it.
[271] Nicetas Chon., De Man. Comn., iii, 5; Codin., pp. 53, 192. They
were brought to Venice by the Crusaders in 1204, and now stand before
the cathedral of St. Mark; Buondelmonte, _loc. cit._ A much longer
pedigree is given by some accounts (Byzantios, _op. cit._, i, p. 234),
from Corinth to Rome by Mummius, and thence to CP. by Constantine. They
even had a journey to Paris under Napoleon.
[272] Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 351. Some remains of it are still
visible.
[273] Codin., p. 54.
[274] Nicetas Chon., _loc. cit._
[275] _Ibid._, Codin., p. 54.
[276] _Ibid._, p. 31.
[277] Nicetas Chon., De Signis: Καλοῦμαι Νίκων καὶ ὁ ὅνος Νίκανδρος,
κ.τ.λ. Cf. Plutarch, Antony.
[278] _Ibid._
[279] _Ibid._
[280] Codin., p. 53.
[281] Jerome, Chronicon, an. 325. CP. “dedicatur pene omnium urbium
nuditate.” This Saint, however, is somewhat given to hyperbole.
[282] See the various illustrations in Panvinius.
[283] We hear nothing of _vomitoria_, approaches beneath the seats
to the various positions, nor do we know how the large space under
the incline of benches was occupied. At Rome, in the Circus Maximus,
there were “dark archways” in this situation, which were let out to
brothel-keepers; Hist. August. _sb._ Heliogabalo, 26, etc. In the time
of Valens, however, a record office was established here; Jn. Lydus, De
Magistr., iii, 19.
[284] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 24.
[285] Ducange, _op. cit._, i, p. 104; a collection of instances.
[286] Const. Porph., _loc. cit._ At Rome such awnings were decorated to
resemble the sky with stars, etc.
[287] Codin., pp. 20, 22; part previously by Severus; Zosimus, ii, 30.
[288] Codin., p. 39.
[289] _Ibid._, p. 37.
[290] Cedrenus, p. 564.
[291] _Ibid._, p. 616; Zonaras, xiv, 2.
[292] Resembling, if not the prototype of, the Venus dei Medici; see
Lucian, Amores.
[293] See Pausanias, v, 12.
[294] Cedrenus, _loc. cit._
[295] Theophanes, an. 6024.
[296] Zosimus, ii, 30; Codin., p. 41. Said to have been designed to the
size and shape of Constantine’s tent, which was pitched here when he
took Byzantium from Licinius.
[297] _Ibid._; Jn. Malala, p. 320; Zonaras, xiii, 3, etc. Really a
statue of Apollo taken from Heliopolis in Phrygia and refurbished.
[298] _Ibid._; Cedrenus, i, p. 565. The blending of Paganism and
Christianity is an interesting phase in the evolution of Constantine’s
theology. The crosses of the two thieves were also reputed to have been
stowed here till removed to a safer place by Theodosius I; also a part
of the true cross; Socrates, i, 17; Codin., p. 30. Curiously enough,
this Forum has been confounded with the Augusteum both by Labarte
and Paspates, a mistake almost incredible in the latter, a resident,
considering that the pillar of Constantine still exists in a scarred
and mutilated condition; hence known as the “Burnt Pillar,” and called
by the Turks “Djemberli Tash,” or Hooped Stone; see Grosvenor, _op.
cit._, p. 374, etc.
[299] Jn. Malala, _loc. cit._; Codin., pp. 44, 180.
[300] _Ibid._, pp. 28, 68; Cedrenus, ii, p. 564.
[301] Notitia, Reg. 6; Cedrenus, i, p. 565. It had been burnt down
previous to this date, but seems to have been restored.
[302] Codin., p. 48.
[303] Notitia, Reg. 5; Gyllius, De Top. CP., iii, 1.
[304] Socrates, i, 16.
[305] Codin., p. 48.
[306] Jn. Malala, p. 292.
[307] Codin., p. 76.
[308] Codin., pp. 41, 170. It fell into decay and was, perhaps, removed
before this date; cf. Mordtmann, p. 69; one of the Gorgons was dug up
in 1870.
[309] Codin., p. 40.
[310] See Mordtmann, _op. cit._, p. 69, and Map.
[311] Evidenced by the discovery of a swarm of leaden _bullae_, or
seals for official documents, about 1877; _ibid._, p. 70. But in the
sixth century the legal records from the time of Valens were kept in
the basement of the Hippodrome; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 19.
[312] Cod. Theod., XIV, ix, 3, with Godfrey’s commentary. The Turkish
Seraskierat has taken the place of Taurus.
[313] Cedrenus, i, p. 566; Codin., p. 42, etc. The chronographists
think it particularly necessary to mention that this pillar was
pervious by means of a winding stair. In a later age, when the
inscriptions on the base became illegible, they were supposed to be
prophecies of the future conquest of Constantinople by the Russians.
[314] Marcell., Com., an. 480, 506; Zonaras, xiv, 4.
[315] Déthier, _op. cit._, p. 14; he discovered a few letters of
the epigram (Anthology, Plan., iv, 4) on a fragment of an arch; cf.
Cedrenus, i, p. 566.
[316] The favourite Byzantine appellation for Joshua the son of Nun.
[317] _Ibid._; Nicetas Chon., De Signis, 4.
[318] Codin., p. 42.
[319] _Ibid._, p. 124.
[320] _Ibid._, pp. 42, 74; see Anthology (Plan.), iv, 22, for two
epigrams which give some idea of the scope of these _Xenodochia_.
[321] Notitia, Reg. 10.
[322] Cedrenus, i, p. 610; Zonaras, xiv, 1; sufficiently corroborated
by Cod., VIII, xii, 21, and not a mere assumption arising out of
the similarity of νυμφαῖον to νύμφη, a bride, as argued by some
commentators. Fountains were sacred to the Nymphs; see Ducange, CP.
Christ, _sb. voc._
[323] See the title _De Aqueductu_ in both Codes and Godfrey’s
commentary.
[324] This aqueduct seems to have been built originally by Hadrian,
restored by Valens, who used for the purpose the walls of Chalcedon
as a punishment for that town having taken the part of the usurper
Procopius, and again restored by Theodosius I. Hence it is denoted by
the names of each of these emperors at different times; Socrates, iv,
8; Zonaras, xiii, 16; and the Codes, _loc. cit._
[325] Chrysoloras, _loc. cit._, etc.
[326] Codin., p. 14.
[327] _Ibid._, p. 21; Byzantios, _op. cit._, i, p. 262. Still existing
in a dry state, and occupied by silk weavers. Most probably the name
arises from its having been founded by a patrician Philoxenus; the
Turks call it _Bin ber derek_, meaning 1,001 columns; see Grosvenor,
_op. cit._, p. 366.
[328] Cod., XI, xlii, 7: “It would be execrable,” remarks Theodosius
II, “if the houses of this benign city had to pay for their water.” By
a constitution of Zeno every new patrician was to pay 100 lb. of gold
towards the maintenance of the aqueducts; Cod., XLI, iii, 3.
[329] Codin., p. 9.
[330] Forty of these at Rome; Notitia (Romae), Col. Civ.
[331] Codin., p. 50; cf. Cedrenus, ii, p. 107. “Hypnotic suggestion”
might account for some displays of this kind, and create a popular
belief in the test, which in most instances, however, would be more
likely to prove a convenient method of varnishing a sullied reputation.
Near the Neorium was a shelter called the Cornuted Porch, in which
St. Andrew, the apostle assigned by tradition to these regions, was
supposed to have taught. It took its name from a four-horned statue in
the vicinity, which had the credit of evincing its disapproval of an
incontinent wife by turning three times round on its pedestal if such a
one were brought into its presence; Codin., p. 119.
[332] Cedrenus (i, p. 565) attributes it to Theodosius I, Codinus (p.
108) to Leo Isaurus; Nicetas Chon. (De Signis) laments its destruction
without mentioning the founder.
[333] Legendary apparently. They really met in Pannonia; Julian, Orat.
[334] Codin., pp. 43, 44, 182, 188. The Philadelphium was considered to
be the μεσόμφαλος or middle of the city. The numerous crosses set up by
Constantine are supposed to refer to the cross which he is said to have
seen in the sky near Rome before his victory over Maxentius—a fiction,
or an afterthought, but whose?
[335] Codin., pp. 45, 65.
[336] Cedrenus, i, p. 566.
[337] _Ibid._; Anna Comn., xii, 6.
[338] Codin., p. 45. Unless the course of the brook has altered,
the Amastrianum should be more to the south or west than shown on
Mordtmann’s map.
[339] Codin., pp. 45, 172; forming some kind of boundary or inclosure
perhaps.
[340] Cedrenus, i, p. 566.
[341] _Ibid._; Codin., pp. 44, 173.
[342] Theophanes, an. 5895, etc.; cf. Chron. Paschal., an. 421.
[343] Cedrenus, i, p. 567.
[344] Zonaras, xiii, 20; the base still remains in _Avret Bazaar_; the
pillar was still intact in the time of Gyllius, who ascended it; _op.
cit._, iv, 7. The sketches supposed to have been taken of the figures
on the spiral and published by Banduri and Agincourt have already been
alluded to; see p. 49.
[345] Notitia, Reg. 12, etc.
[346] Buondelmonte’s map; a “very handsome gate”; Codin., p. 122. I
have noted Van Millingen’s opinion that this was not the original
“Golden Gate”; see p. 34. But its mention in Notitia, Reg. 12, seems
fatal to his view.
[347] Codin., p. 46.
[348] _Ibid._, pp. 102, 121; see Paspates for an illustration of the
structure still on this site; Βυζαντιναὶ Μελεταί, p. 343.
[349] Codin., p. 72; the Arians, chiefly Goths, were hence called
Exokionites; Jn. Malala, p. 325; Chron. Pasch., an. 485.
[350] Codinus, p. 47.
[351] _Ibid._
[352] Gregory Nazianz., De Somn. Anast., ix.
[353] Eusebius, Vit. Constant., iv, 58, _et seq._; a later hand has
evidently embellished this description.
[354] Const. Porph., De Cer. Aul. Byz., ii, 43; Codin., p. 203.
[355] Corp. Inscript. Lat., Berlin, 1873, no. 738; still existing and
called by the Turks the “Girls’ Pillar,” from two angels bearing up
a shield figured on the pedestal; see Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 385;
there is an engraving of it in Miss Pardoe’s “Bosphorus,” etc. The
“girls” are utilized by Texier and P. in their frontispiece.
[356] Notitia, Reg. 13; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., ii, 23, etc. Perhaps
not walled till later; Jn. Malala, xiii, p. 430.
[357] Suetonius, in Augusto, 30.
[358] Notitia, Reg. 1, with Pancirolus’s notes; Pand., I, xv; cf.
Gallus by Becker-Göll, Sc. i, note 1.
[359] Ammianus, xiv, 1, with note by Valesius.
[360] Cod. Theod., XIV, xvii; Suidas _sb._ Παλατῖνοι; we do not know
the exact form of these _Gradus_, but only that they were high,
the design being doubtless such as would prevent a crush. This
state-feeding of the people was begun at Rome by Julius Caesar, and
of course imitated by Constantine; Socrates, ii, 13, etc. The tickets
were checked by a brass plate for each person fixed at the Step; Cod.
Theod., XIV, xvii, 5.
[361] Cod. Theod., IV, v, 7; always with Godfrey’s commentary;
Eunapius, Vit. Aedesii.
[362] Notitia, Urb. CP., _passim_.
[363] See Cod., I, iii, 32, 35, 42, 46, etc. Cf. Schlumberger’s work on
the Byzantine _bullae_.
[364] Cod. Theod., XIII, iii, 8; Cod., X, lii, 9.
[365] Codin., p. 22; cf. Pandect., XLIII, xxiii, 1. It appears probable
that neither middens nor cesspools existed within the walls.
[366] See Minucius, Octavius, 10.
[367] Paspates, Βυζαντιναὶ Μελεταί, p. 381, etc. There were, perhaps,
over one hundred churches and monasteries in Constantinople at this
time, but the Notitia, a century earlier, reckons only fourteen
churches; see Ducange’s list.
[368] Western scholars since the Renaissance have fallen into the
habit of applying the diminutive _Graeculi_ to the Byzantines, thereby
distinguishing them from the _Graeci_, their pre-eminent ancestors,
who established the fame of the Dorians and Ionians. The Romans, after
their conquest of the country, began to apply it to all Greeks. Cicero,
De Orat., i, 22, etc.
[369] Suidas, _sb. nom._; Tertullian, Apologia, 39; Athenaeus, xiii,
25. There was, however, a minor school of philosophy at Megara.
[370] Aristotle, Politica, iv, 4. As late as the sixteenth century the
housewives residing next the water habitually took the fish by simple
devices, which are described by Gyllius; De Top. CP. Praef.
[371] See the statements by Theopompus, Phylarchus, etc., in Müller,
Fragm. Hist. Graec., i, pp. 287, 336; ii, p. 154; iv, p. 377. Having
obtained an ascendancy over the frugal and industrious Chalcedonians
they are said to have corrupted them by their vices; cf. Müller’s
Dorians, ii, pp. 177, 418, etc.
[372] Sextus Empir., Adversus Rhetor., 39. A demagogue, being asked
what laws were in force, replied, “Anything I like”—a frivolous or a
pregnant answer?
[373] Aristotle in the doubtful Economica (ii, 4) describes some of
their makeshifts to maintain the exchequer. According to Cicero (De
Prov. Consular.) the city was full of art treasures, an evidence,
perhaps, of wasteful extravagance.
[374] See p. 17. His daily grant of 80,000 measures of wheat, together
with the other allowances, to those who were served at the Steps,
would seem to indicate as many families, but there is no doubt that
the distribution was at first indiscriminate, and many were supplied
who could afford to keep up considerable establishments. Constantius
reduced the amount by one half; Socrates, ii, 13; Sozomen, iii, 7.
Heraclius abolished the free doles altogether; Chron. Paschal., an. 618.
[375] “Matronae nostrae, ne adulteris quidem plus sui in cubiculo, quam
in publico ostendant”; see Seneca, De Beneficiis, vii, 9; cf. Horace,
Sat., I, ii, 102:
Cois tibi paene videre est
Ut nudam, etc.
[376] By a law of Honorius the Romans were forbidden to wear long hair
(in 416), or garments of fur (in 397), such being characteristic of the
Goths who were then devastating Italy; Cod. Theod., XIV, x, 4, 3, 2.
[377] See the lowest bas-reliefs on the Theodosian obelisk (Banduri,
ii, p. 499; Agincourt, ii, pi. x); Cod. Theod., XIV, x, 1;
Hefner-Altenek, Trachten des Mittelalters, pl. 91, 92.
[378] Chrysostom, the pulpit declaimer against the abuses of his time,
was so enraged at seeing the young men delicately picking their steps
for fear of spoiling their fine shoes that he exclaims: “If you cannot
bear to use them for their proper purpose, why not hang them about your
neck or stick them on your head!”; In Matt. Hom. xlix, 4 (in Migne,
vii, 501).
[379] “You bore the lobes of your ears,” says Chrysostom, “and fasten
in them enough gold to feed ten thousand poor persons”; In Matt. Hom.
lxxxix, 4 (in Migne, vii, 786); cf. Sozomen, viii, 23.
[380] Chrysostom, In Ps. xlviii, 3 (in Migne, v, 515); Sozomen, _loc.
cit._, etc. Women’s girdles were worn under the breasts.
[381] See Bingham’s Christian Antiquities, vii, 1, and Racinet, Costume
historique, iii, pl. 21. Read Lucian’s Cynicus for a defence of a
somewhat similar life on a different plane.
[382] Chrysostom, In Epist. Tim. II, viii, 2 (in Migne, xi, 541). Even
these he rates for coquetry; cf. Bingham, _op. cit._, vii, 4, etc. See
also Viollet-le-Duc (Dict. du mobil. fr., i, pl. 1) for a coloured
figure which, though of the thirteenth century, corresponds very
closely with Chrysostom’s description. Formal costume, however, of the
present day, political, legal, ecclesiastical, is for the most part
merely a survival of the ordinary dress of past ages.
[383] Basil Presbyt. ad Gregor. Naz., Steliteut. Const. Porph., _op.
cit._, ii, 52, p. 753, with Reiske’s notes, p. 460.
[384] Cod. Theod., XV, vii, 11, 12; Cod., I, iv, 4(5); actresses
(_mimae_ = _meretrices_, no doubt) are forbidden to use this and other
styles of dress which might bring women of repute into ridicule.
[385] Cod. Theod., XIV, xii; Chrysostom, De Perf. Carit., 6 (in Migne,
vi, 286).
[386] Chrysostom, _loc. cit._ (in Migne, v, 515).
[387] A _quadriga_.
[388] Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Cor. Hom. xi, 5 (in Migne, x, 353). “Do
not be afraid,” says the Saint, “you are not among wild beasts; no one
will bite you. You do not mind the contact of your horse, but a man
must be driven a thousand miles away from you.”
[389] Cod. Theod., XV, xiii, and Godefroy _ad loc._
[390] Chrysostom, In Epist. I ad Thess., v, Hom. xi, 2 (in Migne, xi,
465).
[391] The laws and restrictions relating to the use of purple and the
collection of the _murex_, which was allowed only to certain families
or guilds, are contained in Cod. Theod., X, xx, xxi; Cod., XI, viii,
ix. Julius Caesar first assumed a full purple toga (Cicero, Philip,
ii, 34, probably from); Nero first made a sweeping enactment against
the use of the colour (Suetonius, in Nero, 32; cf. Julius, 43). Women,
however, were generally permitted some latitude and not obliged to
banish it altogether from their dress.
[392] The globe as a symbol of the universal sway of Rome came into use
at or about the end of the Republic. It was not merely ideographic, but
was sometimes exhibited in bulk, and hollow globes have been found with
three chambers in which are contained samples of earth from the three
continents; see Sabatier, Mon. Byzant., Paris, 1862, p. 33. The cross
came in under the Christian emperors, and is said to be first seen on a
small coin of Jovian (363); _ibid._
[393] Cod., XII, iii, 5; Inst. i, 12. “Imperatoris autem celsitudinem
non valere eum quem sibi patrem elegerit,” etc. This new order of
patricians seems to have been instituted by Constantine, their title
being coined directly from _pater_; Zosimus, ii, 40; cf. Cedrenus, i,
p. 573. They were not lineally connected with the patrician caste of
ancient Rome (see Reiske, _ad_ Const. Porph., _sb. voc._), but were
turned out of the Imperial workshop as peers are created by an English
premier; see Leo Gram., p. 301.
[394] These crowns have given rise to much discussion, for a clue to
which see Ludewig, _op. cit._, p. 658. Probably most emperors designed
a new crown.
[395] Some of the large coloured stones worn by the ancients were not
very valuable according to modern ideas, _i.e._, cairngorms, topazes,
agates, etc.; see Pliny, H. N., xxxvii.
[396] Ἡ πατρικία ζωστὴ: Codin., pp. 108, 125; cf. Reiske, _op. cit._,
_sb. voc._
[397] It would be tedious, if not impossible, to put into words the
details of these costumes. They are represented in the great mosaics
of S. Vitale at Ravenna, dating from the sixth century. They have been
beautifully restored in colour by Heffner-Altenek, _op. cit._—too well
perhaps. There are also full-sized paper casts at South Kensington.
There are many engravings of the same, but in all of them the details
have been partly omitted, partly misrepresented. The device on the
tables of the Emperor’s robe consists of green ducks (!) in red
circles; that on the Empress’s skirt of _magi_ in short tunics and
Phrygian caps, bearing presents. The men’s shoes, or rather slippers,
are fitted with toe and heel pieces only, and are held on by latchets.
The ladies’ shoes are red, and have nearly the modern shape, but are
not laced at the division. Their gowns and shawls are of all colours,
and much resemble diagonal printed calico, but in such cases it is the
richness of the fabric which tells. The materials for illustrating the
costume of this period are very scanty; we have neither the countless
sculptures, wall-paintings, fictile vases, etc., of earlier times,
nor the wealth of illuminated MSS., which teach so much objectively
respecting the later Middle Ages.
[398] The _Curopalates_ at this date probably, a place not beneath the
first prince of the blood.
[399] The Byzantine logothetes are first mentioned by Procopius,
De Bel. Goth., iii, 1, etc. At this date they were the Imperial
accountants.
[400] Procopius, Anecd. 30. Hence it appears that the abject
prostration introduced by Diocletian was abandoned by his successors;
see p. 52.
[401] Magister Scriniorum; Notitia, Or., xvii.
[402] Cod., I, xxiii, 6; a law of Leo Macella in 470.
[403] Cryptograms to modern readers if we are to follow the
perplexities of Pancirolus and Böcking, who, misled by the nonsense
of Cedrenus as to CONOB (i, p. 563), cannot realize the obvious as it
lies before their eyes. Godefroy expanded the legends to their full
complement with no difficulty; that of the Spectabiles is FeLiciter
INTer ALLectos COMites ORDinis PRimi; Cod. Theod., VI, xiii; cf.
Böcking’s Notitia, F. ii, pp. 283, 515, 528.
[404] As the illustrations of the Notitia are not accompanied by any
explanation, considerable uncertainty prevails in respect of their
point and intention; it appears almost incontestable, however, that the
coloured figures were depicted in the codicils as they are seen in the
MSS. of the work; otherwise only verbal descriptions of the insignia
would be given; cf. Novel xxv, _et seq._; Const. Porph., ii, 52.
[405] Cod. Theod., VI, xxii; a title omitted from the Code.
[406] _Principes Officii_ and _Cornicularii_; Notitia, _passim_; Cod.,
XII, liii, etc.
[407] Const. Porph., ii, 1, 2; cf. Valesius ad Ammianum, xxii, 7.
These early visitations were habitual in the Roman republic, as when
the whole Senate waited on the newly-elected consuls on the Calends
of January; Dion Cass., lviii, 5, etc.; and especially in the regular
matutinal calls of clients on their patrons _re_ the _sportula_; cf.
Sidonius Ap. Epist., i, 2. His description of the routine of a court
_c. 450_ corresponds closely with the above. It must have been copied
from Rome.
[408] Chrysostom, De Perf. Carit., 6 (in Migne, vi, 286); Theophanes,
an. 6094, 6291, etc.; cf. Suetonius, in Nero, 25, etc.; Ducange, _sb.
eq. alb._
[409] These state carriages, open and closed, painted in gaudy colours,
with gilded pilasters, mouldings, and various figures in relief,
resembled certain vehicles used in the last century and some circus
cars of the present day; see Banduri, ii, pl. 4, _sup. cit._; the work
of Panvinius on Triumphs, etc.
[410] Const. Porph., i, 1, and Append., p. 498, with Reiske’s Notes;
Dion Cass., lxiii, 4; lxxiv, 1, etc.
[411] Theophanes, an. 6019, 6050, etc.; Menologium Graec., i, p. 67;
Cedrenus, i, p. 599; ii, p. 536.
[412] Theophanes, an. 6030, 6042, etc.
[413] See Reiske _ad_ Const. Porph., p. 434, _et seq._
[414] See Zosimus, ii, 39; Alemannus ad Procop., iii, p. 390; Ducange,
_sb. voc._
[415] See Godfrey’s Notitia Dignitatum, _ad calc._ Cod. Theod.;
Selden’s Titles of Honour, p. 886; the epilogues to the Novels,
etc. Minor dignities, entitled _Perfectissimi_, _Egregii_, are also
mentioned, but are obsolete at this date; _Superillustres_ were not
unknown; see Ducange, _sb. voc._
[416] Const. Porph., i, 68; see Labarte, _op. cit._, pp. 16, 140, etc.
[417] Const. Porph., i, 92, with Reiske’s Notes.
[418] Const. Porph., i, 68, _et seq._ This open-air hymn-singing was
an early feature in Byzantine life; Socrates, vii, 23; Jn. Lydus, De
Magistr., iii, 76. Later, at least, each Deme used an organ as well;
Const. Porph., _loc. cit._
[419] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 25.
[420] _Ibid._, 24.
[421] Doubtless according to Cod. Theod., XIV, ii; Cod., XI, xiv-xvii.
These Corporations had certain privileges and immunities, such as
exemption from military conscription, but they were bound to defend the
walls on occasion; Novel, Theod. (Valent. I), xl. Naturally, therefore,
after the earthquake of 447 they were sent by Theod. II to rebuild the
walls (see p. 22), and also in other emergencies they were sent to
guard the Long Walls; Theophanes, an. 6051, 6076. Of course, in view of
such appointed work, they had some military training. Building of forts
was a regular part of a soldier’s duties; Cod. Theod., XV, i, 13, and
Godfrey, _ad loc._ The Demes were probably a later expression of the
parties in the old Greek democracies, who associated themselves with
the colours of the Roman Circus, when imported into the East, as the
most effective outlet for their political feelings.
[422] These four colours, which date from the first century of the
Empire, are supposed to represent the seasons of the year (Tertullian,
De Spectaculis, 9); or the different hues of the sea and land (blue
and green); see Chron. Pasch., Olymp., vii, p. 205; Alemannus, _ad_
Procop., p. 372; Banduri, _op. cit._, ii, p. 376, etc. Originally there
were but two divisions. The leading and subsidiary colours are said to
distinguish urban from suburban members of the factions; cf. Jn. Lydus,
De Mens., iv, 25.
[423] Const. Porph., i, 6, with Reiske’s Notes.
[424] Procopius, _loc. cit._, ii, 11.
[425] Jn. Malala, xiv, p. 351.
[426] _Ibid._, xvii, p. 416; cf. Procopius, De Bel. Pers., ii, 11.
[427] Chrysostom, De Anna, iv, 1 (in Migne, iv, 660); an almost
identical passage; Gregory Naz., Laus Basil., 15.
[428] The Decennalia represented the ten years for which Augustus
originally “accepted” the supreme power; the Quinquennalia are said
to have been instituted by Nero, but may have become obsolete at this
date; see the Classical Dicts. There were also Tricennalia.
[429] Novel cv; Const. Porph., _loc. cit._, Codin., p. 17; Procop., De
Bel. Vand., ii, 9, etc.
[430] Cod. Theod., VI, iv, 5, 26, etc. By a law of 384, eight praetors
were appointed to spend between them 3,150 lb. of silver, equal to
about £10,000 at that date, a credible sum; but the common belief
that three annual praetors used to be enjoined to disburse more than
a quarter of a million sterling in games is, I make no doubt, rank
nonsense. Large amounts were, no doubt, expended by some praetors
(Maximus, _c. 400-420_, _for his sons’_ 4,000 lb. of gold, over
£150,000, yet, only half the sum; Olympiodorus, p. 470), but these
were intended to be great historic occasions, and are recorded as
such, bearing doubtless the same relation to routine celebrations as
the late Queen’s Jubilees did to the Lord Mayor’s shows, on which a
few thousands are annually squandered. Maximus was then bidding for
the purple, in which he was afterwards buried. The question turns on
the enigma of the word _follis_, which in some positions has never
been solved. But Cod. Theod., XII, i, 159, makes it as clear as
daylight that 25,000 _folles_ in _ibid._, VI, iv, 5, means just about
fifty guineas of our money (he had also to scatter £125 in silver as
largess), a sum exactly suited to _ibid._, VII, xx, 3, by which the
same amount is granted to a superannuated soldier to stock a little
farm. The first law publishes the munificence of the Emperor in
presenting the sum of 600 _solidi_ (£335) to the people of Antioch that
they may not run short of cash for, and so be depressed at the time of,
the public games. And so the colossal sum doubted by Gibbon, accepted
by Milman, advocated by Smith, and asserted by Bury may be dissipated
like a puff of smoke in the wind. The office of _praetor ludorum_ seems
to have been falling into abeyance at this time.
[431] Jn. Lydus, De Mens., i, 12. Twenty-four races were the full
number, but they were gradually reduced to eight; Const. Porph., i, 68,
p. 307.
[432] Anastasius put a stop to this part of the performance—for the
time; Procop. Gaz. Panegyr., 15, etc.
[433] H. A. Charisius, 19, etc. A favourite exhibition was that of
a man balancing on his forehead a pole up which two urchins ran and
postured at the top; Chrysostom, Ad Pop. Ant., xix, 4 (De Stat.; in
Migne, ii, 195). Luitprand (Legatio, etc.) six centuries later was
entertained with the same spectacle, an instance of the changeless
nature of these times over long periods.
[434] Novel cv; Socrates, vii, 22; Cod. Theod., XV, xi, etc.
[435] Aulus Gell., iii, 10, etc.
[436] Sueton., Nero, 22; Novel cv, 1, etc.
[437] Chrysostom, In Illud, Vidi Dominum, etc. (in Migne, vi, 113); Ad
Pop. Ant., xv, 4 (in Migne, ii, 158); In Illud, Pater Meus, etc., Hom.
ix, 1 (in Migne, xii, 512); a particular instance of a youth killed in
the chariot race the day before his intended wedding.
[438] Chrysostom, In Illud, Vidi Dominum, etc., Hom. iii, 2 (in Migne,
vi, 113); In Genes. Hom. v, 6 (in Migne, iv, 54).
[439] Const. Porph., _op. cit._, i, 69; Theophanes, an. 5969, etc. The
winners usually received about two or three pounds in money, also a
laurel crown and a cloak of a peculiar pattern (Pellenian, perhaps;
Strabo, VIII, vii, 5); Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. liv, 6 (in Migne,
vii, 539); but under some of the insensate emperors immense prizes,
small fortunes in fact, were often given; see Reiske’s Notes, _ad op.
cit._, p. 325. I have not met in Byzantine history with any allusion to
the seven circuits of the races (except Jn. Lydus, De Mens., i, 12),
the eggs or the dolphins; these are assumed from the Latin writers of
old Rome and from the sculptured marbles. It appears from Cod. Theod.
(XV, ix, etc.), that the successful horses, when past their prime, were
carefully nurtured through their old age by the state. The choicest
breeds of these animals came from Spain and Cappadocia; Claudian, De
Equis Hon., etc. All the technical details of the Roman Circus will
be found in the Dicts. of Clas. Antiqs., especially Daremberg and
Saglio’s; see also Rambaud, De Byzant. Hip., Paris, 1870.
[440] Of epilepsy (Evagrius, etc.). This is not a fatal disease, and
hence a fiction arose that he had been buried alive in a fit. A sentry
on guard at the sepulchre heard moanings for two days, and at length
a voice, “Have pity, and let me out!” “But there is another emperor.”
“Never mind; take me to a monastery.” His wife, however, would not
disturb the _status quo_; but ultimately an inspection was made, when
he was found to have eaten his arms and boots; Cedrenus, Zonaras,
Glycas, etc.
[441] Theoph., an. 5983; Cedrenus, i, p. 626, etc. He was a Manichaean
according to Evagrius, iii, 32; cf. Theoph., an. 5999.
[442] Julian seems to have been the first Roman emperor who was hoisted
on a buckler and crowned with a necklet; Ammianus, xx, 4. By Jn. Lydus,
however, the use of the collar instead of a diadem would appear to be a
vestige of some archaic custom traceable back to Augustus or, perhaps,
even to the times of Manlius Torquatus; De Magistr., ii, 3. The Germans
originated the custom of elevating a new ruler on a shield; Tacitus,
Hist., iv, 15.
[443] See the full details of this election and coronation in Const.
Porph., _op. cit._, i, 92. It is to be noted that twelve chapters of
this work (i, 84-95) are extracted bodily from Petrus Magister, a
writer of the sixth century.
[444] Jn. Malala, xvi, p. 394; Chron. Pasch., an. 498.
[445] Sc., “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, pity us!” said to
have been the song of the angels as heard by a boy who was drawn up
to heaven and let down again in the reign of the younger Theodosius;
Menologion Graec., i, p. 67, etc.
[446] Evagrius, iii, 32; Jn. Malala, xvi, p. 407; Theoph., an. 6005,
etc. The date is uncertain; as recounted by some of the chronographists
only 518 would suit the incident. As soon as the government felt again
on a stable footing numerous executions were decreed.
[447] In 425 theatres and other amusements were forbidden on Sundays;
Cod. Theod., XV, v, 5. In the time of Chrysostom people coming out of
church were liable to encounter bands of roisterers leaving the theatre.
[448] Procopius, Anecdot., ix; Chrysostom, In Coloss., iii, Hom. ix
(in Migne, xi, 362), “Satanical Songs” is his favourite expression;
also “diabolical display”; In Act. Apost. Hom. xlii, 4 (in Migne, ix,
301); “naked limbs” of actresses; In Epist. I Thess., iv, Hom. v, 4 (in
Migne, xi, 428); cf. Ammianus, xiv, 6; Lucian, De Saltatione.
[449] By a sumptuary law, however, the most precious gems and the
richest fabrics were forbidden to the stage (Cod. Theod., XV, vii,
11); but the restriction seems to have been relaxed, as this law has
been omitted from the Code. The intention was to prevent mummers from
bringing into disrepute the adornments of the higher social sphere.
[450] Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. vii, 5 (in Migne, vii, 79); cf.
Cod., V, xxii, 9. A trick, doubtless, to evade the law, which forbade
absolute nakedness on the stage; Procop., Anecdot., ix.
[451] Cod. Theod., XV, vii, 12, etc.
[452] _Ibid._, 5.
[453] _Ibid._, 6; Cod., XI, xl, 3.
[454] Cod. Theod., XV, vi, 8, etc.
[455] The immorality of the stage is the constant theme of Chrysostom.
The fact that he draws no ethical illustrations from the drama seems
to prove that no plays were exhibited in which virtue and vice were
represented as receiving their due award. Fornication and adultery
were the staple allurements of the stage; Act. Apost. Hom. xlii, 3
(in Migne, ix, 301). From the culminating scene of “The Ass” in the
versions both of Apuleius and of Lucian it would seem that practical
acts of fornication were possible incidents in public performances.
It must be remembered, however, that women did not frequent the Greek
or, at least, the Byzantine theatre. Sathas labours vainly to prove
the existence of a legitimate Byzantine drama; Ἱστορ. δοκ. περὶ τ.
θεάτρ. καὶ τ. μουσικ. τ. Βυζαντίων, Ven., 1878; cf. Krumbacher, Byzant.
Literaturgesch., Munich, 1897, p. 644, _et seq._
[456] Haenel, Cod. Theod., IV, vi, 3; Cod., V, xxvii, 1. By the first
draft, due to Constantine, the prohibition might apply to any poor
but virtuous girl. This defect was remedied by Pulcheria; Nov. Mart.
iv. Here we may discern a result of Athenais, the dowerless but well
educated Athenian girl being chosen (by Pulcheria) for her brother’s
consort; or, perhaps, of her own union with Martian, at first a private
soldier.
[457] Called _trabea_ or _toga palmata_; Claudian, Cons. Olyb. et
Prob., 178; Cassiodorus, Var. Ep., vi, 1.
[458] _Ibid._
[459] Ammianus, xxii, 7. Julian, when at CP., in his enthusiasm for
democratic institutions, followed the consul on foot, but, forgetting
himself, he performed the act of emancipation, an inadvertence for
which he at once fined himself 10 lb. of gold (£400).
[460] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 25; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., ii, 8,
etc.
[461] Even under the barbarian kings in Italy, Odovacar the Herule
and Theodoric the Goth, a consul was appointed annually at Rome in
accordance with the arrangement made when Constantine decreed that the
metropolitan honours should be divided between the old and the new
capital.
[462] Nov. cv, 1, where they are enumerated. The regular cost of the
display was 2,000 lb. of gold (£80,000), which, with the exception of
a small amount by the consul himself, came from the Imperial treasury;
Procopius, Anecdot., 26; cf. Jn. Lydus, _loc. cit._ Hence it appears
that even the consulship need not be held by a millionaire; see p. 100.
[463] Cod. Theod., XV, v, 2. No lower dignitary was allowed to
distribute anything more precious than silver.
[464] Cod. Theod., VIII, xi; Cod., XII, lxiv.
[465] Cod. Theod., XV, ix. Numbers of these diptychs are still
preserved. There is a specimen at South Kensington of those of
Anastasius Sabinianus, Com. Domest., who was consul in 518. Each
plate was usually about twelve by six inches, and they were hinged so
as to close up together. The designs on each face were practically
duplicates. Generally as to the position of consuls at this time see
Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VI, vi, and the numerous cross references he
has supplied.
[466] Constantine instituted a regular observance of Sunday as the
Dominica or Lord’s Day in 321; Cod. Theod., III, viii, with Godfrey’s
Com.; Cod., III, xii, 3. Towards the end of the ninth century, however,
Leo Sapiens prohibited even farmers from working on Sundays; Novel.
Leo. VI, liv. Daily service was only instituted about 1050 by Constant.
Monom.; Cedrenus, ii, p. 609.
[467] See Ducange, _sb._ Σήμαντρον; Reiske’s Notes, _op. cit._, p.
235. The instrument is still in use in the Greek Church, but literary
notices of it seem to be unknown before the seventh century.
[468] Chrysostom, Habentes eundem, etc., 11 (in Migne, iii, 299).
[469] _Ibid._ The well-known palindrome, ΝΙΨΟΝΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑΜΗΜΟΝΑΝΟΨΙΝ
(Wash away your sins not only your face), was at one time inscribed on
the basin in front of St. Sophia; Texier and Pullan, _op. cit._, p. 10.
This composition is, however, attributed to Leo Sap.
[470] Sozomen, vii, 16; Gieseler, Eccles. Hist., i, 71, etc.
[471] Procopius, De Aedific., i, 1, p. 178; Paul Silent., 389, 541. At
this time, however, men and women seem to have been in view of each
other in the nave as well, though separated by a wooden partition;
Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. lxxiii, 3 (in Migne, vii, 677), but in
earlier times they were allowed to mix indiscriminately; _ibid._
[472] Socrates, vi, 8, etc.
[473] Sozomen, viii, 5; not invariably perhaps. Part of the present
description applies, of course, to St. Sophia.
[474] Cantacuzenus, i, 41; this could easily be done, as the clerical
staff of each church was very numerous—over five hundred in St. Sophia;
Novel iii, 1.
[475] Chrysostom, In Epist. I Tim., ii, Hom. viii, 1 (in Migne, xi,
541); In Psal. xlviii, 5 (in Migne, vi, 507).
[476] Chrysostom, De Virgin., 61 (in Migne, i, 581).
[477] Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. lxxiii, 3 (in Migne, vii, 677). “In
the temple of God,” says he, “you commit fornication and adultery at
the very time you are admonished against such sins.”
[478] Chrysostom, In Epist. I Tim., ii, Hom. viii, 9 (in Migne, xi,
543).
[479] Chrysostom, Epist. ad Innocent., Bishop of Rome, 3 (in Migne,
iii, 533). He here describes how the women had to fly naked from the
Baptistery during the riots connected with his deposition from the see
of Constantinople. It must be noted, however, that the severe modesty
of modern times had scarcely been developed amid the simplicity of the
ancient world, as it has not among some fairly civilized peoples even
at the present day.
[480] I had almost said _piety_, one of the words destined, with the
extinction of the thing, to become obsolete in the future, or to be
applied to some other mental conception.
[481] Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. xvii, 2 (in Migne, vii, 256). He
inveighs against the farce of ascetics taking virgins to live with
them, who are supposed to remain intact; cf. De Virginitate (in Migne,
i, 533); also Cod. Theod., XVI, ii, 20, to which Godefroy supplies
practical illustrations.
[482] Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Coloss., iii, Hom. vii, 5 (in Migne,
xi, 350); in Matth. Hom. lxxxiii, 4 (in Migne, vii, 750). Or even
of more costly materials, gold, crystal; Plutarch, Adv. Stoic., 22;
Clement Alex. Paedag., ii, 3. The notion of unparalleled luxury has
been associated with the Theodosian age, but without sufficient reason.
It was rather the age of a man of genius who denounced it persistently
and strenuously, and whose diatribes have come down to us in great
bulk, viz., Chrysostom. The period of greatest extravagance was, in
fact, during the last century of the Republic and the first of the
Empire, and the names of Crassus, Lucullus, Nero, Vitellius, etc., are
specially connected with it.
[483] Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Coloss., i, Hom. 4 (in Migne, xi, 304).
[484] As late as the tenth century, according to Luitprand,
Antapodosis, vi, 8. In the Vienna Genesis (_c. 400_) a miniature shows
banqueters reclining at a table of this sort. I will not attempt to
enlarge on the courses at table and the multifarious viands that were
consumed, as there are but few hints on this subject. We may opine,
however, that gastronomics indulged themselves very similarly to what
is represented in the pages of Petronius and Athenaeus, etc., cf.
Ammianus, xvi, 5; xxviii, 4.
[485] Chrysostom, In Psalm xlviii, 8 (in Migne, v, 510). Most of the
eunuchs were of the nation of the Abasgi, who dwelt between the Caspian
and Euxine; Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iv, 3.
[486] Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Corinth. Hom. xl, 5 (in Migne, x, 353);
In Matth. Hom. lxiii, 4 (in Migne, vii, 608).
[487] See below.
[488] Constantine enacted that families—husbands and wives, parents
and children, brothers and sisters—should not be separated; Cod.
Theod., II, xxv, 1; cf. XVI, v, 40, etc. But there was little practical
philanthropy in the world until the Middle Ages had long been left
behind. Thus by the Assize of Jerusalem, promulgated by Crusaders in
the twelfth century, a war-horse was valued at three slaves! Tolerance,
the toning-down of fanaticism, doubt as to whether religious beliefs
are really of any validity, appears to be the foster-mother of humane
sentiment. A slave could be trained to any trade, art, or profession,
and their price varied accordingly. Thus common slaves were worth about
£12, eunuchs £30; before ten years of age, half-price. Physicians sold
for £35, and skilled artificers for £40; Cod., VII, vii. The modern
reader will smile at the naïveté of Aristotle when he states that some
nations are intended by Nature for slavery, but, as they do not see it,
war must be made to reduce them to their proper level; Politics, i, 8.
[489] The following directions of a mother to her daughter how to shine
as a society _hetaira_ emanate from a Greek of the second century:
“Dress yourself with taste, carry yourself stylishly, and be courteous
to every one. Never break into a guffaw, as you often do, but smile
sweetly and seductively. Do not throw yourself at a man’s head, but
behave with tact, cultivate sincerity, and maintain an amiable reserve.
If you are asked to dinner be careful not to drink too much; do not
grab the viands that are offered to you, but help yourself gracefully
with the tips of your fingers. Masticate your food noiselessly,
and avoid grinding your jaws loudly whilst eating. Sip your wine
delicately, and do not gulp down anything you drink. Above all things
do not talk too much, addressing the whole company, but pay attention
chiefly to your own friends. By acting in this way you will be most
likely to excite love and admiration”; adapted from Lucian, Dial.
Meretr., vi.
[490] Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. xxx, 5 (in Migne, vii, 368); In I:
Tim., i, 3 (in Migne, xi, 524); In Epist. ad Hebr., xxix, 3 (in Migne,
xii, 206). “A country wench,” says he, “is stronger than our city men.”
[491] Chrysostom, De non Iterat. Conj., 4 (in Migne, i, 618). At all
times there were ladies of such lubricity as to court the opportunity
of bathing before men in the public baths; prohibited by Marcus (Hist.
Aug., 23), this commerce of the sexes was encouraged by Elagabalus, and
again forbidden by Alexander (Hist. Aug., 24, 34). Hadrian, however,
seems to have been the first to declare against this promiscuous
bathing (Hist. Aug., 18): “Olim viri foeminaeque mixtim lavabant, nullo
pudore nuditatis,” says Casaubon, commenting on the passage; cf. Aulus
Gell., x, 3; Cod. Theod., IX, iii, 3; Cod., V, xvii, 11; Novel, xxii,
16, etc. Clement Alex. (_c. 200_) complains that ladies were to be seen
in the baths at Alexandria like slaves exposed for sale; Paedag., iii,
5. Far different was the conduct of the Byzantine matrons a thousand
years later; they then fell into the ways of Oriental exclusiveness as
seen amongst the dominant Turks; see Filelfo, Epistolae, ix, Sphortiae
Sec., 1451. A native of Ancona, who lived at CP. for several years in
the half century preceding the capture of the city.
[492] Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Ephes., iv, Hom. xv, 3 (in Migne, xi,
109). The cries of the girl, often tied to a bedpost, might even be
heard in the street, and if she stripped herself in a public bath the
weals on her back were sometimes the subject of public remark. Whilst
counselling mercy he considers that the whipping is generally deserved.
[493] Chrysostom, Quales duc. sint Uxores, 7 (in Migne, iii, 236); In
Epist. I ad Corinth., Hom. xii, 5 (in Migne, x, 103).
[494] Fifteen for males and thirteen for females were the marriageable
ages as legally recognized; Leo, Novel., lxxiv.
[495] Chrysostom, Quales duc. sint Uxores, 5 (in Migne, iii, 233);
γραΐδια μυθεύοντα, κ. τ. λ.
[496] Even Arcadius had to be content with a portrait and a verbal
description of the charms of Eudoxia, the daughter of a subject and a
townsman; Zosimus, v, 3.
[497] The early Christians gradually inclined to the custom of asking
a formal benediction from the clergy as an essential part of the
marriage ceremony, but about the time of Chrysostom the practice began
to be disregarded. With the disuse also of pagan rites it began to be
doubted whether nuptials could be legal unless accompanied at least by
an orgiastic festival. To dispel this misgiving Theodosius II in 428
decreed that no sort of formal contract was required, but merely fair
evidence that the parties had agreed to enter the connubial state; Cod.
Theod., III, vii, 3. The Christian rite was not made compulsory till
the end of the ninth century; Leo Sap. Novel., lxxxix.
[498] Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. xxxvii, 5 (in Migne, vii, 425); In
Act. Apost., xlii, 3 (in Migne, ix, 300); In Epist. I ad Corinth, Hom.
xii, 5 (in Migne, x, 102), etc. His favourite theme for objurgation.
He complains especially: “And worse, virgins are present at these
orgies, having laid aside all shame; to do honour to the bride?
rather disgrace,” etc. These must be _ancillae_, or girls of a lower
class, as it is evident from the above account that young ladies of
any family could not be seen even at church by intending suitors;
possibly they were kept closely veiled. On this point see further
Puech’s Chrysostom, Paris, 1891, p. 133. An introduction of this kind
had always been considered necessary, as is shown by the equitation of
the phallus (Mutinus) imposed on Roman brides the first night. These
old customs were a constant mark for gibe among the early Christian
Fathers; Lactantius, Div. Inst., l, 20; Augustine, De Civ. Dei, iv, 11;
Arnobius, iv, _et passim_, etc.
[499] Chrysostom, In Joann. Hom. xxxii, 3 (in Migne, vii, 186).
[500] _Ibid._, In Epist. ad Corinth. Hom. xii, 7 (in Migne, x, 105).
[501] Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Corinth. Hom. xii, 7 (in Migne, x, 105).
[502] _Ibid._, In Matth. Hom. lxxii, 2 (in Migne, vii, 669); Ad Pop.
Antioch., xix, 4 (in Migne, ii, 196).
[503] _Ibid._, Ad Illum. Catech., ii, 5 (in Migne, ii, 240).
[504] _Ibid._, In Epist. I ad Corinth., xii, 7 (in Migne, x, 105).
[505] _Ibid._, De Consol. Mort. 6 (in Migne, vi, 303).
[506] _Ibid._, Expos. in Psalm cxi, 4 (in Migne, v, 297), etc. He often
protests against this form of luxury. At Rome especially, when the
ownership of these costly piles had passed into oblivion, it was the
habit of builders to pillage them in order to use their architectural
adornments and materials for new erections; Cod. Theod., IX, xvii.
Apparently the sepulchres were sometimes violated for the supply of
false relics.
[507] Chrysostom. Habentes autem eumdem, etc. Hom. ii, 9 (in Migne,
iii, 284).
[508] See Plato’s Phaedrus, Symposium, etc.; Plutarch, Pelopidas, 19. A
modern Democritus might smile at the conclusion of Lucian that, whilst
the commerce of the sexes is necessary for the propagation of the race,
paederasty is the ideal sphere for the love of philosophers; Amores.
According to Aristotle, Minos introduced the practice into Crete as
an antidote against over-population; Politics, ii, 10; vii, 16. In
this respect the Greeks, perhaps, corrupted on the one hand and on the
other Romans and Persians alike; Herodotus, i, 135. It was indigenous,
however, among the Etruscans; Athenaeus, xii, 14, etc.
[509] The shadowy Scantinian law was enacted against it, but remained
a dead letter; Cicero, Ad Famil., viii, 12, 14, etc.; cf. Plutarch,
Marcellus, 2.
[510] I have not, however, fallen in with any account of the dedication
of a temple to _Amor Virilis_. Such a shrine would have been quite
worthy of Nero or Elagabalus, indeed of Hadrian.
[511] Suetonius, Nero, 28; Hist. Aug. Hadrian, 14; Heliogabalus, 6, 15,
etc.; Statius, Silvae, iii, 4, etc. The adulation of this vice pervaded
even the golden age of Latin poetry:
But Virgil’s songs are pure except that horrid one
Beginning with “Formosum pastor Corydon.”
Byron, Don Juan, i, 42.
For the estimation in which paederasty was held in Crete see Strabo,
X, iv, 21; Athenaeus, xi, 20. Old men even wore a robe of “honour”
to indicate that in youth they had been chosen to act the part of a
pathic. The epigram on Julius Caesar is well known—“omnium mulierum
vir, omnium virorum mulier”; Suetonius, in Vit. 52. Anastasius, who
seems to have been somewhat of a purist for his time, abolished a
theatrical spectacle addressed particularly to the paederasts, against
which Chrysostom had vainly launched his declamations; In Psalm xli,
2 (in Migne, v, 157). “Boys, assuming the dress and manners of women,
with a mincing gait and erotic gestures, ravished the senses of the
observers so that men raged against each other in their impassioned
fury. This stain on our manners you obliterated,” etc.; Procopius,
Gaz. Panegyr., 16. The saint is much warmer and more analytical in his
invective.
[512] Hist. Aug. Alexander, 24.
[513] Tertullian, De Monogam., 12; Lactantius, Divin. Instit., v, 9;
Salvian, De Gubern. Dei, vii, 17, etc.
[514] Cod. Theod., IX, vii, with Godefroy’s duplex commentary. The
peculiar wording of the law of Constantius almost suggests that it was
enacted in a spirit of mocking complacency; _ibid._, Cod., IX, ix, 31.
[515] Chrysostom, Adv. Op. Vit. Mon., 8 (in Migne, i, 361). There was
probably a stronger tincture of Greek manners at Antioch, of Roman at
Constantinople, but the difference does not seem to have been material.
We here take leave of Chrysostom. The saint fumes so much that we must
generally suspect him of exaggeration, but doubtless this was the style
which drew large crowds of auditors and won him popularity.
[516] Procopius, Anecdot., 9, 11; Novel., lxxvii, etc. The first
glimpse of Byzantine sociology is due to Montfaucon, who, at the end
of his edition of Chrysostom brought together a selection of the most
striking passages he had met with. These excerpts were the germ and
foundation of a larger and more systematized work by P. Mueller, Bishop
of Zealand; De Luxu, Moribus, etc., Aevi Theod., 1794. An article
in the Quarterly Review, vol. lxxviii, deals briefly with the same
materials. I have derived assistance from all three, but, as a rule, my
instances are taken directly from the text of Chrysostom.
[517] Twelve ounces, rather less than the English ounce. The difficulty
in obtaining a just equivalent for ancient money in modern values is
almost insuperable. After various researches I have decided, as the
safest approximation, to reckon the _solidus_ at 11_s._ 2_d._ and the
lb. Byz. of gold at £40.
[518] This appears to have been merely a “coin of account,” but
there were at one time large silver coins, value, perhaps, about six
shillings, also pieces of alloyed silver. For some reason all these
were called in and made obsolete at the beginning of the fifth century;
Cod. Theod., IX, xxi, xxii, xxiii. No silver coins larger than a
shilling seem to have been preserved to our time.
[519] As the price of copper was fixed at 25 lb. for a _solidus_,
these coins might have been very bulky; “dumps,” as such are called by
English sailors abroad, above an ounce in weight, but nothing near so
heavy has come down to us; Cod. Theod., XI, xxi.
[520] Other emperors, however, struck single _nummia_, and these may
have remained in use. They are known to collectors and weigh 5 grs. and
upwards.
[521] See the specimens figured by Ducange, CP. Christ., or in other
works on numismatics.
[522] The Macedonian kings in the fifth century B.C. were the first
princes to put their names and portraits on their coinage, but the
practice did not become common till after Alexander the Great; cf.
Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 33. Very large gold medals were minted
by most of the Roman emperors, weighing even one or two lb. Hist. Aug.,
Alexander, 39. This imposing coinage appears to have been used for
paying subsidies or tribute to barbarian nations. They were carried
slung over the backs of horses in those leathern bags, which we see in
the Notitia among the insignia of the Counts of the Treasury; Cod.,
XII, li, 12; Paulus Diac., De Gest. Langob., iii, 13.
[523] The value of money in relation to the necessaries of life, always
a shifting quantity, was not very different in these ages to what it
is at present. To give a few examples: bread was about the same price,
common shoes cost 1_s._ 6_d._ to 5_s._ a pair; a workman, according
to skill, earned 1_s._ 6_d._ to 4_s._ a day; see Dureau de la Malle,
Econ. polit. des Romains, Paris, 1840; also Waddington’s Edict of
Diocletian; an ordinary horse fetched £10 or £12; Cod. Theod., XI,
i, 29, etc. On the Byzantine coinage see Sabatier, Monnaies Byzant.,
etc., Paris, 1862, i, p. 25, _et seq._ An imperfect, but so far the
only comprehensive work; cf. Finlay, Hist. Greece, i, p. 432, _et seq._
Mommsen’s work also gives some space to the subject. False coining and
money-clipping were of course prevalent in this age and punishable
capitally, but there was also a class of magnates who arrogated to
themselves the right of coining, a privilege conceded in earlier
times, and who maintained private mints for the purpose. In spite of
legal enactments some of them persisted in the practice, and their
penalty was to be aggregated with all their apparatus and operatives
to the Imperial mints, there to exert their skill indefinitely for the
government; Cod. Theod., IX, xxi, xxii. Their lot suggests the Miltonic
fate of Mulciber:
Nor aught availed him now
To have built in heaven high towers; nor did he ’scape
By all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in hell.
Paradise Lost, I.
[524] In 1885, a “guess” census taken by the Turkish authorities put
it at 873,565, but the modern city is much shrunk within the ancient
walls; Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 8.
[525] The Avars, during an incursion made in 616, carried off 270,000
captives of both sexes from the vicinity of the city; Nicephorus CP.,
p. 16.
[526] The largest reservoir, now called the “Bendt of Belgrade,” about
ten miles N.W. of CP. is more than a mile long. The water is conveyed,
as a rule, through subterranean pipes, and there is no visible aqueduct
within six miles of the city. The so-called “Long Aqueduct” is about
three-quarters of a mile in length.
[527] Evagrius, iii, 38; Procopius, De Aedific., iv, 9; Chron.
Paschal., an. 512, etc.
[528] In modern Hindostan somewhat of a parallel might be traced, but
very imperfectly. After the third century Gothic must also have become
a familiar language at CP.
[529] The partial survival of the Latin language in the East during
these centuries is proved, not merely by the body of law, inscriptions,
numismatics, etc., but by the fact that some authors who must have
expected to be read generally at Constantinople, chose to write in
that tongue, especially Ammianus (“Graecus et miles,” his own words),
Marcellinus Comes, and Corippus.
[530] This vulgar dialect has probably never been committed to writing.
Specimens crop up occasionally, particularly in Jn. Malala, also in
Theophanes, i, p. 283 (De Boor). See Krumbacher, _op. cit._, p. 770,
_et seq._ The cultured Greeks, however, even to the end of the Empire,
always held fast to the language of literary Hellas in her prime; see
Filelfo, _loc. cit._
[531] It is worthy of remark that assumption of the aspirate was in the
period of best Latinity a vulgar fault decried by Romans of refined
speech:
Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet
Dicere, et hinsidias Arrius insidias....
Ionios fluctus, post quam illuc Arrius isset,
Jam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios.
Catullus, lxxxii.
[532] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 27, 68.
[533] In the absence of full contemporary evidence for a complete
picture of Byzantine life at the point of time dealt with, it has
often been necessary to have recourse to writers both of earlier and
later date; an exigency, however, almost confined to Chrysostom and
Constantine Porphyrogennetos. In taking this liberty I have exercised
great caution so as to avoid anachronisms; and if such exist I may
fairly hope them to be of a kind which will not easily be detected.
I have always tried to obtain some presumptive proof in previous
or subsequent periods that the scene as represented may be shifted
backwards and forwards through the centuries without marring its truth
as a picture of the times. In these unprogressive ages, wherever
civilization was maintained, it often had practically the same aspect
even for thousands of years.
[534] It is generally conceded that iconoclastic zeal in respect of
primitive Roman history, under the impulse given by Lewis and Niebuhr,
has been carried too far. Even now archaeological researches with the
spade on the site of the Forum, etc., are producing confirmation of
some traditional beliefs already proclaimed as mythical by too astute
critics; see Lanciani, _The Athenaeum_, 1899. In any case the legends
and hearsay as to their origin, current among various races, have a
psychological interest, and may afford valuable indications as to
national proclivities, which must rescue them from the neglect of every
judicious historian.
[535] Livy, iv, 52, etc.
[536] The favourite title of Augustus was _Princeps_ or “First
citizen,” but the more martial emperors, such as Galba and Trajan,
preferred the military _Imperator_, which after their time became
distinctive of the monarch. By the end of the third century, under
the administration of Aurelian and Diocletian, the emperor became an
undisguised despot, and henceforward was regarded as the _Dominus_,
a term which originally expressed the relation between a master and
his slaves; see Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., i, 5; the series of coins in
Cohen’s Numismatics of the Empire, etc.
[537] Strabo says it was full of Tarsians and Alexandrians; xiv, 5.
Athenaeus calls it “an epitome of the world”; i, 17; cf. Tacitus, Ann.,
xv, 44; “The city which attracts and applauds all things villainous and
shameful.”
[538] Tiberius made an end of the _comitia_ or popular elections, and
after his time the offices of state were conferred in the Senate, a
body which in its elements was constituted at the fiat of the emperor;
Tacitus, Ann., i, 15, etc.
[539] Under Diocletian (_c._ 300) the legislative individualism of the
emperor attained maturity; see Muirhead, Private Law of Rome, Edin.,
1899, P. 353.
[540] The choice of Galba by the soldiers in Spain (68 A.D.) first
“revealed the political secret that emperors could be created elsewhere
than at Rome”; Tacitus, Hist., i, 4. Trajan, if actually a Spaniard,
was the first emperor of foreign extraction.
[541] In the quadripartite allotment by Diocletian, he himself fixed
his residence at Nicomedia, his associate Augustus chose Milan,
whilst the scarcely subordinated Caesars, Galerius and Constantius,
made Sirmium and Treves their respective stations; Aurelius Vict.,
Diocletian.
[542] Arcadius, as the elder, reigned in the East, a proof that it
was esteemed to be the most brilliant position. The Notitia also, a
contemporary work, places the East first as the superior dominion. No
doubt the new tyrants found themselves in an uncongenial atmosphere at
Rome, and the sterner stuff of the Western nations would not tolerate
their sublime affectations. They could stand the follies of Nero,
but not the vain-glory of Constantine, who soon fled from the covert
sneers of the capital and merely paid it a couple of perfunctory visits
afterwards. It is significant that the forms of adoration are omitted
from the Notitia of the West; cf., however, Cassiodorus, Var. Ep., xii,
18, 20.
[543] About a year, but sometimes prolonged; he could be indicted
afterwards for misconduct, unless like Sulla, Caesar, etc., and the
aspirants to the purple later, he found himself strong enough to seize
on the supremacy.
[544] See Mommsen, Das röm. Militärwesen, etc. Hermes, xxiv, 1889.
[545] Aurelius Vict., Diocletian, etc. After Elagabalus Aurelian was
the pioneer in this departure, but in their case it seems to have been
not a policy so much as a love of pompous display. It is worth noting
that these emperors were men of low origin; Aurelian was a peasant,
Diocletian the son of a slave. Yet Aurelian would not let his wife wear
silk; Hist. Aug. Aurelian, 45.
[546] The brood of eunuchs (bed-keepers) flows to us from prehistoric
times. Ammianus (xiv, 6) attributes the invention to Semiramis, whose
date, if any, is about 2000 B.C. They appear to be engendered naturally
by polygamy. Isidore of Seville characterizes them as follows: “Horum
quidam coeunt, sed tamen virtus in semine nulla est. Liquorem enim
habent, et emittunt, sed ad gignendum inanem et invalidum”; Etymolog.,
x, _sb. voc._ Hence the demand for such an enactment as that of Leo,
Novel., xcviii, against their marrying, which, however, would be
unnecessary in the case of the καρξιμάδες.
[547] The names of Eusebius, Eutropius, Chrysaphius, etc., are well
known as despots of the Court and Empire. “Apud quem [si vere dici
debeat] Constantius multum potuit,” is the sarcasm of Ammianus on the
masterful favourite Eutropius; xviii, 4. Ultimately members of the
royal family were castrated to allow of their being intrusted with the
office of Chamberlain, practically the premiership, whilst unfitting
them to usurp the throne; see Schlumberger, L’épopée byzant. au dix.
siècle, 1896, p. 6.
[548] See Const. Porph., _passim._ The emperor cannot even uncover his
head without the castrates closing round him to intercept the gaze of
rude mankind; Reiske, ii, p. 259.
[549] The use of numerical affixes to the names of monarchs did not
exist among the ancients, and hence many cruxes arise for antiquarians
to distinguish those of the same name. Popularly they were often
differentiated by nicknames. Thus we read of Artaxerxes the Longhanded,
Ptolemy the Bloated, the Flute-player; Charles the Bald, the Fat;
Philip the Fair, Frederic Barbarossa, etc. The grandson of the last,
Frederic II, seems to have been the first who assumed a number as part
of his regal title; see Ludewig, Vita Justin., VIII, viii, 53.
[550] CP. fell to Mahomet II in 1453, and the kingdom of Trebizond,
a fragment which still existed under a Comnenian dynasty, in 1461.
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Roumania, Armenia proper, Georgia, and the lower
part of Mesopotamia did not, however, belong to the Eastern Empire, but
there was suzerainty over most of the adjacent territory except Persia.
[551] The town itself was in the hands of the Bulgarians till 504, when
it was won by Theodoric for Italy; Cassiodorus, Chron.
[552] This frontier was delimited by Diocletian, _c. 295_; Eutropius,
ix; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 19.
[553] At this time Western Armenia, about one-third of the whole, was
called Roman, the rest Persian. It was divided at the end of the fourth
century, but no taxes were collected there by the Byzantines; see below.
[554] Neither the north-eastern nor the north-western boundaries can
now be precisely defined. According to Theodoret, the north-eastern
verge of the Empire was Pityus, about seventy miles farther north;
Hist. Eccles., v, 34. After the reign of Trajan the Euxine was
virtually a Roman lake, and a garrisoned fort was kept at Sebastopol,
considerably north of the Phasis, Bosphorus (Crimea) under its Greek
kings being still allowed a nominal autonomy; Arrian, Periplus Pont.
Euxin. After 250, however, under Gallienus, etc., these regions were
overrun by the Goths. In 275 Trajan’s great province of Dacia was
abandoned by Aurelian, but he preserved the remembrance of it by
forming a small province with the same name south of the Danube; Hist.
Aug., Aurelian, 39, etc.
[555] This geographical sketch is based chiefly on the Notitia, the
Synecdemus of Hierocles, and Spruner’s maps.
[556] Less than the present population of England, which has barely a
tenth of the area of the Empire.
[557] To take a few instances: Thessalonica and Hadrianople, former
population not less than 300,000 each, now about 70,000 each; Antioch,
formerly 500,000 (Chrysostom mentions 200,000, doubtless only freemen),
now 7,500; Alexandria, formerly 750,000, now again growing into
prosperity, 230,000; on the other hand, Ephesus, Palmyra, Baalbec,
etc., once great cities, have entirely disappeared. Nor have any
modern towns sprung up to replace those mentioned; Cairo alone, with
its 371,000, is an apparent exception, but it is almost on the site
of Memphis, still a busy town in the sixth century. For these and
many similar examples the modern gazetteers, etc., are a sufficient
reference. Taking all things into consideration, to give a hundred
millions to the countries forming the Eastern Empire, in their palmy
days, might not be an overestimate; and even then the density of
population would be only about one-third of what it is in England at
the present day.
[558] Institut. Just., Prooem., etc.
[559] Here, however, seems to have been the tract first known to the
Greeks as Asia, but the name was extended to the whole continent fully
ten centuries before this time.
[560] Hierocles, _op. cit._ By the Notitia the civil and military
government of Isauria and Arabia are in each case vested in the same
person.
[561] Now the Dobrudscha.
[562]
The birds their choir apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring.
Paradise Lost, IV.
[563] Including the small province of that name.
[564] On the roll of precedence the Vicars and Proconsuls were
Spectabiles, the ordinary governors Clarissimi. The intendant of the
Long Walls was also called a Vicar; Novel., viii.
[565] See the Notitia.
[566] The independence of proconsular Asia has already been mentioned.
[567] “Yielding only to the sceptre”; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., ii, 5. On
the roll of precedence, however, he came after consuls and patricians,
but he was usually an ex-consul and patrician as well; see Godefroy
_ad_ Cod. Theod., VI, vi.
[568] The most noted of these roads, the Via Appia, ran from Rome
to Brindisi. It was about fifteen feet wide, with raised footpaths
proportionately narrow. The only road in the Eastern Empire with
a special name was the Via Egnatia, leading from the coast of the
Adriatic through Thessalonica to Cypsela (Ipsala, about forty miles
north of Gallipoli). The Antonine Itinerary shows the distance
between most of the towns and ports in the Empire (_c. 300_). The
Tabula Peutingeriana is a sort of panoramic chart on which towns,
roads, mountains, forests, etc., are marked without any approach to
delineating the outline of the countries, except in the vicinity of
the Bosphorus and CP. (third century, but brought up to a later date;
about 15 feet × 1). There is a photographic reproduction, Vienna, 1888.
Strabo (IV, iii, 8) notes how careless the Greeks were, as compared
with the Romans, in the matter of public works of ordinary utility.
[569] Cod. Theod., XV, iii. By the absence of this title from the Code
and from Procopius (De Bel. Goth., i, 14; De Aedific., iv, 8; v, 5) we
can discern that the roads in the East were generally in bad condition.
No rubbish or filth or obstructive matter of any kind was allowed to
be discharged into the roads or rivers. All roads or canals, that is,
by-paths, were to be maintained in their primary condition, whether
paved or unpaved; Pand., XLIII, x-xv. Soldiers were enjoined not to
shock the public decency by bathing shamelessly in the rivers; Cod.
Theod., VII, i; 13.
[570] The modern caravanserai, a great square building with open
central court and chambers on two floors (see Texier and Pullan,
_op. cit._, p. 142, for a description and plans of one attributed to
the times of the Empire), is supposed to represent not only these
mansions, but even the pattern of the original Persian _angari_ of the
classic period. Travellers could stop at them gratuitously and obtain
provender, etc. Cicero, Atticus, v, 16, etc.
[571] About forty animals were kept at each station; Procopius, Anecd.,
30.
[572] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, 28, etc. 22½ lb. avd. seems absurdly
little for a horse to carry; a parhippus, an extra-strong horse, was
kept, and might take 100 lb. (75 avd.), but even that is only half the
weight of an average man; Cassiodorous, Var. Epist., iv, 47; v, 5. C.
remarks, however, that it is absurd to load an animal who has to travel
at a high speed. I think, therefore, that the load is in addition to a
rider (_hippocomus_).
[573] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, 2.
[574] The Jerusalem Itinerary (_c._ 350) shows the mansions and
mutations from Bordeaux to J., etc. The former seem to have been in or
near large towns, the latter by the wayside.
[575] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, with Godefroy’s paratitlon.
[576] Cod. Theod., VI, xxvii; called _Agentes in rebus_.
[577] They appear to have originated in the _Frumentarii_
(corn-collectors), who were sent into the provinces to purvey for the
wants of the capital. Encouraged on their return to tattle about what
they had seen, signs of disaffection, etc., their secondary vocation
became paramount; and under Diocletian they were reconstituted with a
more consonant title, whilst their license was restrained; Aurelius
Vict., Diocletian; Hist. Aug. Commodus, 4, etc.
[578] Libanius, Epitaph. Juliani (R., I, p. 568); cf. Xenophon,
Cyropaedia, viii, 2. The Persian king was the original begetter of
“eyes and ears” of this description; Herodotus, i, 114.
[579] Liban., Adv. eos qui suam Docendi Rat., etc. At this time they
were generally called _Veredarii_, _veredus_ being the name of the
post-horses they always rode; Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 16; De Bel.
Pers., ii, 20.
[580] Vetus Glossarium, _sb. Vered. eq._ (Godefroy _ad_ Cod. Theod.,
VI, xxix, 1).
[581] _Curiosi_; Cod. Theod., VI, xxix.
[582] _Irenarchi_; _ibid._, XII, xiv; Cod., X, lxxv.
[583] In no instance better exemplified than in that of Anastasius.
[584] Galba, Pertinax, Alexander, Probus, Maurice, etc.
[585] See their insignia and appointments in the Notitia; there was a
separate set for the East and West even after the extinction of the
Roman dynasty of the latter division.
[586] Or more briefly, Masters of Soldiers, of Troops, or of the
Forces; in the Notitia the five military magnates are placed before the
Counts of the Treasury.
[587] _In praesenti_, in the Presence; to be with the Emperor
travelling was to be _in sacro Comitatu_; to send anything to Court was
to send it _ad Comitatum_, etc.
[588] For the probable daily order of the Consistorium see p. 92; Cod.
Theod., XI, xxxix, 5, 8; the materials at this date are too scanty to
fill an objective picture; cf. Schiller, Gesch. d. röm. Kaiserzeit,
Gotha, 1887, ii, p. 66.
[589] Cod. Theod., VI, xii, and Godefroy _ad loc._
[590] _Ibid._, I, i, ii, with Godefroy’s paratitla.
[591] They had much the force of a decree nisi, to be made absolute
only in the quarter where all the circumstances were known. The Codes
are full of warnings against acting too hastily on the Emperor’s
rescript; thus Constantine says, “Contra jus Rescripta non valeant,”
but his son on the same page, “Multabuntur Judices qui Rescripta
contempserint.” They had to steer between Scylla and Charybdis; in most
cases, however, an easy task enough in Byzantine administration; Cod.
Theod., I, i, 1, 5.
[592] Julian, in his zeal for constitutional government, tried to make
it a real power in the state, but his effort was quietly ignored after
his short career by his successors; Zosimus, iii, 11.
[593] In theory the Consul (Cod. Theod., VI, vi), but practically the
P.U.; _ibid._, ii, and Godefroy’s paratitlon; cf. Cassiodorus, Var.
Epist., i, 42, 43, etc.
[594] Cod. Theod., VI, xxiii, 1; XII, i, 122; IX, ii, 1, etc.
[595] Ammianus, xxviii, 1; Cod., I, xiv. Thus even Theodosius based
himself on a decree of the Senate before embarking on the war with
Maximus; Zosimus, v, 43, 44.
[596] When there was no emperor in the East, after the death of Valens,
Julius, the Master of the Forces, applied for sanction to the Senate
before ordering the massacre of all the Gothic youth detained as
hostages throughout Asia; Zosimus, iv, 26.
[597] As in the case of Anastasius himself; Marcellinus Com., an. 515,
etc.
[598] Ammianus, xxviii, 1; Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 32.
[599] Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 4; XV, ix; Cod., I, xiv. Leo Sap. at last
abolished the Senatusconsulta; Nov. Leo., lxxviii.
[600] References to, and a _résumé_ of, modern authorities who have
tried to work out the political significance of the Senate at this
epoch will be found in Schiller, _op. cit._ p. 31. I may add that
fifty members formed a quorum (Cod. Theod., VI, iv, 9), but a couple
of thousand may have borne the title of Senator; Themistius, xxxiv,
p. 456 (Dind.). Many of these, however, had merely the “naked” honour
by purchase (Cod. Theod., XII, i, 48, _et passim_), or received it on
being superannuated from the public service, but the potential Senators
inherited the office or assimilated it naturally on account of their
rank. Many of the titular Senators lived on their estates in the
provinces; Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 2; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., iii,
6, etc.
[601] Cod. Theod., XII, i; Godefroy reckons seventy-nine Curiae in
the Eastern Empire, but there must have been many more not definitely
indicated; paratitlon _ad loc._
[602] Cod. Theod., I, xxix.
[603] _Ibid._, XII, i, 151; Novel., xv; see Savigny, Hist. Roman Law,
I, ii. They seem to have been created by Valentinian I; Cod., I, lv, 1,
etc.
[604] Cod. Theod., I, vii, 3; the first book contains most of Haenel’s
additions, and his numbers often differ from Godefroy’s, to which I
always refer on account of the commentary.
[605] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 37; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Ep., xi,
6. _Cancellarius_, from the _cancelli_ or grille, within which they sat
or stood.
[606] Plutarch, Cato Min., 23, etc.; cf. Savigny, _loc. cit._
[607] Generally about 400 in number; the Count of the East was allowed
600; Cod., XII, lvi, lvii, etc. A sort of constabulary lower in rank
than ordinary soldiers; Cod., XII, lviii, 12, etc.
[608] _Ibid._, I, xii.
[609] _Ibid._, IV, xvii.
[610] Cod. Theod., I, vii, 2; Cod., III, iii. Notwithstanding a long
article by Bethmann-Hollweg (Civilprozessen, Bonn, 1864, iii, p. 116),
nothing is known as to how they held their court, etc.
[611] Cod. Theod., XI, xxx.
[612] _Ibid._, I, v.
[613] _Ibid._, I, vii, 5, 6.
[614] Thus the first, the fifteenth, indiction were the first and
last years of the round of fifteen. This method of reckoning mostly
superseded all other dates, both in speaking and writing. The first
Indiction is usually calculated from 1st September, 312. Fundamentally,
indiction means rating or assessment.
[615] Hyginus, de Limitibus, etc., is our chief source of knowledge as
to Roman land-surveying. Permanent maps were engraved on brass plates
and copies were made on linen, etc. See Godefroy _ad_ Cod. Theod., XI,
xxvii.
[616] Pand., L, xv, 4; Cod. Theod., IX, xlii, 7; Cod., IX, xlix, 7.
[617] From a Syriac MS. in the British Museum, it appears that to every
_caput_ or _jugum_ of 1,000 solidi (£560) were reckoned 5 _jugera_
(about ⅝ acre) of vineyard, 20, 40, or 60 of arable land, according
to quality, 250 olive trees, 1st cl., and 450 2nd cl.; see Mommsen on
this document, Hermes, iii, 1868, p. 429; cf. Nov. Majorian, i. The
amount exacted for each head varied with time and place. When Julian
was in Gaul (_c. 356_), the inhabitants were paying 25 solidi (£14)
_per caput_ or _jugum_, which he managed to reduce to 7 solidi (£4);
Ammianus, xvi, 5.
[618] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 10; XIII, xi, 12; Cod., XI, lviii, etc.
Deserted lands were mostly near the borders, from which the occupiers
had been driven by hostile incursions. Barren lands presumably were put
in the worst class.
[619] The duties of these officials are nowhere precisely defined, and
a consistent account must be presumed from the scattered indications
contained in the Codes, Cassiodorus, etc.; see Cod. Theod., XIII, xi;
Cod., XI, lvii, etc.
[620] Cod. Theod., XIII, x, 5; xi, 4, etc.
[621] _Ibid._, XIII, x, 8.
[622] For this assessment the adult age was in general 18, but in
Syria, males 14, females 12; Pand., L, xv, 3.
[623] “Capitatio humana atque animalium”; Cod. Theod., XI, xx, 6; cf.
Cedrenus, i, p. 627; Zonaras, xiv, 3; Glykas, iv, p. 493, etc. Owing
to the use in the Codes of the words _caput_ and _capitatio_ with
respect to both land-tax and poll-tax, these were generally confounded
together, till Savigny made the distinction clear in his monograph,
Ueber d. röm. Steuerverfassung, pub. 1823 in the Transact. of the
Berlin Acad. of Science. The poll-tax is usually distinguished as
_plebeia capitatio_. The epigram of Sidonius Ap. is always quoted, and
has often misled the expositors of the Codes, in this connection. To
the Emperor Majorian he says:
Geryones nos esse puta, monstrumque tributum,
Hic capita, ut vivam, tu mihi tolle tria.
The taxes must have been again very high for him to anticipate so much
relief from the remission of only three heads (_c._ 460).
[624] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 14; “quantulacumque terrarum possessio.”
[625] _Ibid._, XIII, x, 2.
[626] _Ibid._, XIII, x, 4, 6.
[627] _Ibid._, XIII, iii, iv. A list of thirty-five handicrafts
exempted is given, including professionals, such as physicians,
painters, architects, and geometers. I find no relief, however, in the
case of lawyers.
[628] Cod. Theod., IV, xii; Godefroy could only recover one
Constitution of this title, but Haenel has been able to collect nine;
thirteen are contained in the corresponding title of the Code, IV, lxi.
On imported eunuchs ⅛ was paid; Cod., IV, xlii, 2.
[629] _Ibid._, X, xix, 3, 12.
[630] _Ibid._, IV, xii.
[631] Cod., IV, lxiii, 2; “subtili auferatur ingenio.”
[632] Cod. Theod., XIII, i; Cod., XI, i. Evagrius (iii, 39), one of the
nearest in time, is most copious on the subject of this tax. Cedrenus,
Glykas, Zonaras (“an annual tribute!”) evidently confused it with the
poll-tax, but their remarks show that every animal useful to the farmer
returned something to the revenue; a horse or an ox one shilling, an
ass or a dog fourpence, etc.
[633] Evagrius alone mentions these; cf. Hist. August. Alexander, 34.
[634] According to an old Biblical commentator, it was called the
_penalizing gold_, “the price of sorrow,” as we might say (aurum
poenosum or pannosum, the _gold of rags_, levied even on beggars);
see Valesius ad Evagr. _loc. cit._; Quaest. Vet. et Nov. Test. 75,
_ad calc._ St. August, (in Migne, iii, 2269). He also is thinking
of a poll-tax, _didrachma_, less than two shillings a head. The
Theodosian Code in twenty-one Constitutions is clear and precise as
to the incidence of the chrysargyron, and nothing can be interjected
extraneous to the definitions there constituted. The quadriennial
contribution of Edessa was 140 lb. of gold (£5,600); Joshua Stylites
(Wright), Camb. 1882, 31.
[635] Zosimus, ii, 38. He is severe on Constantine for inflicting it,
but there must have been something like it before; see Godefroy _ad_
Cod. Theod., XIII, i, 1.
[636] Cod. Theod., XVI, ii, 8, 14, 15; XIII, i, 11, etc.; VII, xx, 3,
9, etc. (also some Court officers; XI, xii, 3); XIII, iv; i, 10.
[637] It is the signal action of Anastasius respecting it which has
caused so much notice to be taken of the impost; see esp. Procopius,
Gaz. Panegyric., 13. One Timotheus of Gaza is said to have aimed a
tragedy at the harshness of it; Cedrenus; Suidas, _sb._ Timoth. By
Code, XI, i, 1, it seems that traces of it remained permanently.
Evagrius alludes vaguely to some compensating financial measures of
Anastasius; iii, 42; cf. Jn. Malala, p. 394.
[638] This was the regular procedure when state debtors were officially
forgiven—a ceremonial burning of the accounts; Cod. Theod., XI, xxviii,
2, 3, etc.
[639] Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 1, 4, 13, etc. The idea of abolishing
these senatorial taxes was entertained in the time of Arcadius, but
the scheme fell through; Cod., XII, ii. Senatorial estates were kept
distinct from all others during peraequation at the quindecennial
survey; Cod. Theod., VI, iii, 2, 3.
[640] Cod. Theod., VI, xxiv, 8, 9; XIII, iii, 15, 17, etc., see
Godefroy’s paratitlon to VI, ii.
[641] _Ibid._, VI, ii, 5, 9; VII, xxiv, etc.
[642] Cod., XII, iii, 3.
[643] Cod. Theod., VII, xxiii.
[644] _Ibid._, XII, xiii, and Godefroy’s commentaries. Cod., X, lxxiv.
[645] Cod. Theod., VI, xxx, 2; Nov., xxx, etc.
[646] Cod. Theod., X, vi; XV, x, and Godefroy _ad loc._
[647] _Ibid._, X, xix; Cod., XI, vi; see Dureau de la Malle (_op.
cit._, iv, 17), who summarizes with refs. our scanty information on the
subject. It seems that the ancient methods of working the ore were very
defective, and the _scoriae_ of the famous silver mines at Laurium have
been treated for the third time in recent years with good results; see
Cordella, Berg u. hüttenmän. Zeitung, xlii, 1883, p. 21; Strabo, IX, 1.
[648] Cod. Theod., I, v, 1, etc. Chrysostom alludes to the severity
of the miner’s existence; Stagirium, 13; Mart. Aegypt., 2 (in Migne,
i, 490; ii, 697). During the Gothic revolt of 376 the Thracian miners
joined the insurgents; Ammianus, xxxi, 6.
[649] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 1, 34; v, 3, 4; xvi, 8, etc.
[650] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 15, 16; xxv; XII, vi, 15, etc.
[651] _Ibid._, XII, vi, 2, etc.
[652] _Ibid._, XI, vii, 14, 16, etc.
[653] _Ibid._, XI, vii, 1, etc.
[654] _Ibid._, XI, vii, 10, 13; VIII, viii, 1, 3; this privilege was
extended to the Jews’ Sabbath; II, viii, 3.
[655] _Ibid._, XI, vii, 16, etc.
[656] _Ibid._, XI, i, 34, 35; xxii, 4, etc.
[657] _Ibid._, XI, vii, 3, etc.
[658] _Ibid._, X, xvii; XI, ix; that is by auction.
[659] _Ibid._, [?] xxviii; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., xi, 7.
[660] _Ibid._, XI, vii, 2, 6, etc., cf. Cassiodorus, _op. cit._, iv, 14.
[661] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 9, 21; XII, vi, 19, and Godefroy _ad loc._;
_ibid._, XII, vii, 2, etc.
[662] _Ibid._, XII, vi, 19, 21, etc.
[663] _Ibid._, XI, vii, 1; XIII, x, 1, etc. The demand notes had to be
signed by the Rector; XI, i, 3.
[664] _Ibid._, XI, i, 19; xxvi, 2; XII, vi, 18, 23, 27. The Defender of
the City was generally present to act as referee on these occasions.
A single annone was valued at 4 _sol._ (£2 5_s._) per annum; Novel.,
Theod., xxiii. It appears that the precious metals were accepted by
weight only to guard against adulteration, clipping, etc. Thus, in
321, Constantine enacted that 7 _sol._ should be paid for an ounce by
tale instead of six, indicating ⅐ alloy in his own gold coin at that
period; see Dureau de la Malle, _op. cit._, i, 10; Cod. Theod., XII,
vii, 1; cf. vi, 13.
[665] _Ibid._, VII, vi; xxiii; XI, i, 9; cf. Cassiodorus, _op. cit._,
xi, 39. When it was found that sheep and oxen fell into poor condition
after being driven a long way the estimated price was exacted instead.
[666] Cod. Theod., I, xv; one law only in Godefroy, 17 in Haenel.
[667] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, 13, 18; X, xx, 4, 11, etc.
[668] _Ibid._, XIII, v, 28; ix; Cod., XI, iii, 2, etc. In an emergency
any one possessing a ship of sufficient size was liable to be
impressed. The prescribed least capacity seems to have been about ten
measured tons according to the modern system (100 cub. ft. per ton
register), that is, cargo space for 2,000 _modii_, about 650 cub. ft.
[669] There were three grand treasuries at CP., viz., that of the
Praefect of the East, of the Count Sacrarum Largitionum, and of the
Count Rerum Privatarum (his local agents were called _Rationales_, but
seem from the Notitia to have become extinct in the East), but the
Praefect was the chief minister of finance and ruled both the returns
and the disbursements; see Godefroy’s Notitia, _ad calc._; Cod. Theod.;
Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., ii, 27; Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., vi, 3, etc.
The Rectors and the Curiae could levy local rates for public works, to
which purpose a third of the revenue from the customs in each district
and from national estates (mostly property of abolished temples) was
regularly devoted; see Cod. Theod., XV, i, with Godefroy’s paratitlon
and commentaries. The Emperor indulged his fancy in building out of the
public funds or granted sums in the form of largess, as when Anastasius
bestowed a considerable amount on the island of Rhodes to repair the
damage done by an earthquake; Jn. Malala, xvi. There were some small
taxes I have not noticed, such as the _siliquaticum_, pay for the army,
by which each party to a sale gave a ½ _siliqua_ (3_d._). This was
devised by Valentinian III (Novel., Theodos., xlviii; Do. Valent.,
xviii) and existed in the time of Cassiodorus (_op. cit._, iv, 19,
etc.), but does not seem to have been adopted in the East.
[670] Antioch also had an allowance of free provisions, but there is no
precise evidence in this case.
[671] Cod. Theod., VIII, iv, 6; XI, i, 11, etc.
[672] _Ibid._, XI, xxvi.
[673] Considerable obscurity envelops the office of _protostasia_.
I conjecture it to have been a supervision imposed on local nobles,
chiefly residential Senators, who had to serve for two years; Cod.
Theod., XI, xxiii. In theory all the superior offices had to be vacated
on the expiration of a year, but they were often prolonged. Thus a
trustworthy and efficient _Susceptor_ retained his post for five years;
_ibid._, XII, vi, 24. The latter were mostly elected by the Curiae, who
were liable for their defalcations; _ibid._, 1, etc.
[674] Cod. Theod., VIII, viii; x; XI, vii, 17, etc. These palatine
emissaries, coming as _Compulsors_ or otherwise, were detested by the
Rectors, etc., who could scarcely show them the deference due to their
brevet-rank, which was high: doubtless they gave themselves airs;
_ibid._, VI, xxiv, 4; xxvi, 5, etc. They were entitled to be greeted
with a kiss and to sit with the Judge on his bench.
[675] 320,000 lb. of gold; Procopius, Anecdot., 19. In the time of
Pompey it was thought a considerable achievement when that general
raised the income of the Republic to the trifling sum, according to
modern ideas, of £3,500,000; Plutarch, Pompey, 45. On the other hand we
have the statement of Vespasian, a century later, that he needed close
on £400,000,000 to keep the Empire on its legs, a sum almost equal to
the requirements of modern Europe, but the scope of his remark is not
plain; Suetonius, Vespas., 16. Antoninus Pius, again, with the finances
of the whole Empire under his hand during his reign of twenty-three
years saved £22,000,000, nearly the same amount per annum as Anastasius
for a similar extent of territory; Dion Cass., lxxiii, 8. Such small
savings by the most thrifty emperors do not argue a large income. In
our own best years a surplus may reach about five per cent. of the
receipts. This gives us grounds for a guess that the revenue of Rome
after Augustus was something like £20,000,000.
[676] See p. 131 for the names of those hordes who shared the Western
Empire between them. Overflow of population and pressure by the most
powerful nomads, the Huns and Alani, were the general causes which
precipitated the barbarian hosts on the Empire.
[677] About this time the Bulgarians made their first appearance on the
Danube as the foes of civilization. They were lured into a treaty by
Zeno; Müller, Fr. Hist. Graec., iv, p. 619 (Jn. Antioch.); cf. Zonaras,
xiv, 3, etc.
[678] See p. 124.
[679] The capitation tax was remitted in Thrace; Cod., XI, li. In fact,
hardly any taxes were drawn from that Diocese, for, as Anastasius
himself remarks, the inhabitants were ruined by barbarian irruptions;
_ibid._, X, xxvii, 2. How irrepressible were the wild tribes across the
Danube can best be appreciated by a perusal of Ammianus, xxxi, etc.,
and Jordanes _passim_.
[680] The new Persian Empire which dissolved the Parthian sovereignty
was founded, _c. 218_, by Ardashir (Artaxerxes); see Agathias, ii, 26,
etc.
[681] See Godefroy _ad_ Cod. Theod., VII, xiv, xv, xvii; Hist. Aug.
Hadrian, 11, 12; Probus, 13, 14; Ammianus, xxviii, 2, etc. The walls
of Hadrian and Antonine in North Britain are well known, and have been
exhaustively described. The camps are represented as military cities.
See Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall, 1885, etc.
[682] Cod. Theod., VII, xv, etc.
[683] Arrian, Peripl. Pont. Eux. This force was reduced by Constantine;
Zosimus, ii, 34.
[684] In the Notitia Or., there are two Counts and thirteen Dukes. All
of the latter, however, were Counts of the First Order, as evidenced by
their insignia. In rank they were _Spectabiles_, that is, a step higher
than the Rectors and ordinary Senators.
[685] Evidently from the Notitia.
[686] See Godefroy _ad_ Cod. Theod., VII, i, 18; Mommsen, _op. cit._,
Hermes, 1889. In Agathias (v, 13) we have the vague statement that the
whole forces of the Empire amounted to 645,000 men at the period of
highest military efficiency. More than half of these would be assigned
to the East. But John of Antioch, in making a similar statement, seems
to have the Eastern Empire only in his mind; Müller, Fr. Hist. Graec.,
iv, p. 622.
[687] See p. 50.
[688] Procopius, Anecdot., 24, 26; Agathias, v, 15.
[689] See Godefroy _ad_ Cod. Theod., VI, xxiv; XIV, xvii, 8, 9, 10. On
the Candidati see Reiske _ad_ Const. Porph., p. 77. In the field they
seem to have been the closest bodyguard of the Emperor, as were the
eunuchs on civil occasions; Ammianus, xxxi, 13.
[690] See the Notitia and Mommsen, _op. cit._
[691] These are all given in the Notitia, some copies of which are
coloured.
[692] The general appearance was probably: “The tuft of the helmet,
the lance pennon, and the surcoat were all of a fixed colour for each
band;” Oman, Art of War, p. 186.
[693] For the ensign see Ammianus, xvi, 10; Vegetius, ii, 7, 13, 14,
etc.; Cod., I, xxvii, 1 (8); Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., i, 46; Maurice,
Strategikon, ii, 9, 13, 14, 19; Cedrenus, i, p. 298. The dragons were
hollow so as to become inflated with the wind; Gregory Naz., Adv.
Julian, i, 66.
[694] The cavalry with mail-clad horses were called _cataphractarii_ or
_clibanarii_; Ammianus, xvi, 10; Cod. Theod., XIV, xxvii, 9.
[695] Ammianus, xx, 11; xxix, 5; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 1;
Maurice, _op. cit._, XII, viii, 2, 4, 11, etc. There were fifteen
factories for the forging of arms; Notitia; see below.
[696] Vegetius, i, 4, 5, 6; Cod. Theod., VII, xiii, 3; xx, 12, etc.
[697] Cod. Theod., VII, xiii, 8; Pand., XLIX, xvi, 11, etc.
[698] Vegetius, i, 7; Cod. Theod., VII, xiii, etc.; eighteen was the
usual age for the recruit, 5 ft. 8 in. the height. They were branded in
a conspicuous part of the body; Cod. Theod., X, xxi, 4, and Godefroy
_ad loc._
[699] Provided they were physically fit; Cod. Theod., VII, xxii.
[700] Ammianus, xxi, 6; Cod. Theod., VII, xiii. An officer called a
_temonarius_ collected the quittance money for the recruits, which
varied from £14 to £20 apiece.
[701] Ammianus, xvii, 13; xix, 11; xxviii, 5, etc.; Zosimus, iv, 12,
etc. Barbarians of this class were called _Dedititii_.
[702] Cod. Theod., VII, xiii, 16, and Godefroy _ad loc._
[703] Jordanes, De Reb. Get., 21, 28. The enlistment of barbarians
seems to have reached its height under Justin II, when Tiberius led
150,000 mercenaries against the Persians (_c._ 576); Evagrius, v, 14;
cf. Theophanes, an. 6072, etc.
[704] Godefroy _ad_ Cod. Theod., VII, xvii; Vegetius, v (the Liburnian
galleys); Marcellinus Com., an. 508 (“centum armatis navibus totidemque
dromonibus.” By “armed ships” I presume he means bulky transports laden
with soldiers and munitions of war); Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 11,
etc.
[705] Cod. Theod., VII, xx.
[706] Evidently from Agathias, v, 15, and the following.
[707] Rescript of Anastasius, Mommsen, _op. cit._, pp. 199, 256.
[708] The _Limitanei_ and _Comitatenses_ are mentioned in the Code (I,
xxvii, 2 (8), etc.), but the Palatine troops do not occur by name in
the literature of the sixth century (?).
[709] The term was used long before the word legion dropped out; Cod.
Theod., VII, i, 18, etc. By the Greeks the _Numeri_ were called the
_Catalogues_; Procopius, _passim_ (also in previous use).
[710] Cod. Theod., [?] vii, 16, 17, etc.; Procopius, De Bel. Goth.,
iii, 39; iv, 26. Applicants of all soils were on occasion attracted by
the offer of a bounty called _pulveraticum_.
[711] Cod., XII, xxxiv, 6, 7.
[712] Olympiodorus, p. 450; Novel., Theod., xx; Procopius, De Bel.
Vand., i, 11; De Bel. Goth., iv, 5, etc.
[713] Cod., IV, lxv, 35; Novel., cxvii, 11; cf. Benjamin, Berlin
Dissert., 1892.
[714] Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 2, 3; Agathias, ii, 7, 9, etc. There
were no true allies of the Empire at this time, although all those who
fought for her may not have been technically _Foederati_; cf. Mommsen,
_op. cit._, pp. 217, 272.
[715] The name defines them as “biscuit-eaters,” in allusion to their
being maintained at the table of their lord.
[716] Benjamin’s essay is written to oppose this view which is favoured
by Mommsen; _op. cit._, in both cases.
[717] Procopius, De Bel. Vand., ii, 18.
[718] _Ibid._, De Bel. Pers., i, 25; De Bel. Goth., iii, 1, etc.
[719] _Ibid._, De Bel. Vand., i, 17; ii, 19, etc.
[720] Cod., IX, xii, 10.
[721] Ammianus, xiv, 2; xxvii, 9, etc.
[722] Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., v, 16, 17. An order for 1,000 _dromons_
was executed for Theodoric in an incredibly short time. “Renuntias
completum quod vix credi potest inchoatum.”
[723] The general character given to Byzantine soldiers is
exceptionally bad: “The vile and contemptible military class”; Isidore
Pelus., Epist., i, 390: “as free from crime as you might say the sea
is free from waves”; Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. LXI, 2 (in Migne,
vii, 590). These, of course, are priests, but cf. Ammianus, xxii, 4;
Zosimus, ii, 34, etc. Thus a century earlier the army had already
fallen into a wretched condition; see also Synesius, De Regno.
[724] Maurice, _op. cit._, XII, viii, 16.
[725] From the anonymous Strategike it would seem that the phalanx was
restored on occasion during the sixth century (Köchly and Rüslow).
[726] See Arrian’s Tactica _v._ Alanos. For an interesting exposition
of the vicissitudes of warfare by means of cavalry, infantry, and
missiles pure, see Oman’s Art of War, but the author’s selection of the
battle of Adrianople (378) as marking a sharp turn in the evolution
of Roman cavalry is quite arbitrary and could not be historically
maintained. That disaster made no demonstrable difference in the
constitution of the armies of the Empire. The forces of Rome were
consumed to a greater extent at the battle of Mursa less than thirty
years previously (351), when the army of the victor contained, perhaps,
40,000 cavalry, half of the whole amount; Julian, Orat. I, ii (p. 98,
etc., Hertlein); Zonaras, xiii, 8, etc.
[727] Constantine, according to Zosimus (ii, 33), first appointed a
Magister Equitum in the new sense; cf. Cod. Theod., XI, i, 1 (315).
[728] Notitia Or.
[729] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 13, etc.
[730] Procop., De Bel. Pers., i, 13, etc.
[731] _Ibid._, De Bel. Vand., i, 19.
[732] _Ibid._, Anecdot., 24; Agathias, v, 15. Under Leo Macella the
Scholars consisted of selected Armenians, but Zeno introduced a rabble
of Isaurians, his own countrymen; these, of course, were chased by
Anastasius; Theodore Lect., ii, 9, etc. Leo also levied the Excubitors
to be a genuine fighting corps of the Domestics; Jn. Lydus, De Magist.,
i, 16.
[733] Longinus, brother of Zeno, expected to succeed him, but he was
seized promptly, shaved, and banished as a presbyter to Alexandria;
Theophanes, an. 5984, etc.
[734] _Ibid._, an. 5985. To his power among the Isaurians Zeno owed
his elevation, being taken up by Leo as a counterpoise to Aspar and
his Goths, the authors of his own fortune, of whom he was in danger of
becoming the tool; Candidus, Excerpt., p. 473, etc.
[735] Marcellinus Com., an. 498.
[736] This was the end of the war according to Theophanes (an. 5988),
who gives it only three years; cf. Jn. Malala, xvi.
[737] These brigands had been subsidized to the amount of 5,000 lb. of
gold annually (Jn. Antioch., Müller, v, p. 30, says only 1,500 lb.),
which was henceforth saved to the treasury; Evagrius, iii, 35. All the
most troublesome characters were captured and settled permanently in
Thrace; Procopius, Gaz. Paneg., 10. For a monograph on this war see
Brooks, Eng. Hist. Rev., 1893.
[738] Kavádh in recent transliteration. Persian history has been
greatly advanced by modern Orientalists; see especially Nöldeke,
Geschichte der Perser, Leyden, 1887. But the history of Tabari is
absurdly wrong in nearly all statements respecting the Romans and the
translations of Nöldeke and Zotenberg vary so much that we often seem
to be reading different works.
[739] Theodore Lect., ii; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 7, _et seq._; De
Aedific., iii, 2, _et seq._
[740] _Ibid._; De Bel. Pers., ii, 3.
[741] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 7; cf. his parallel story of Attila
and the storks at Aquileia; De Bel. Vand., i, 4 (copied, perhaps, by
Jordanes). While such anecdotes may enliven the page of history, their
effectivity must always be accepted with suspicion.
[742] If the statements of Zacharias Myt. and Michael Melit. can be
accepted, the town must have been very populous, as the number of
citizens slain is put by them at eighty thousand.
[743] The Nephthalites or White Huns who occupied Bactria, previously
the seat of a powerful Greek kingdom under a dynasty of Alexander’s
successors.
[744] Ammianus, xxv, 7.
[745] Procopius, De Aedific., ii, 1; cf. Jn. Malala, xvi, etc.
[746] Jordanes, 58. I am putting it, perhaps, too mildly in the text
if Theodoric, who was a vassal of the Empire, knew beforehand of the
course taken by his general. Sabinianus was chiefly supported by
Bulgarians in consequence of Zeno’s treaty with them; cf. Ennodius,
Panegyr. Theodor. Petza had only 2,000 foot and 500 horse.
[747] Marcellinus Com., an. 505; Ennodius, _loc. cit._
[748] Marcellinus Com., an. 508. Doubtless this was the event which
caused Theodoric to build a large fleet; Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., v,
15, 16.
[749] Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., i, 1, might apply here; in any case the
sentiments of Theodoric are clearly expressed by Jordanes, 59; cf. 57.
[750] Jn. Antioch. and Jn. Malala, Hermes, vi (Mommsen), pp. 344, 389.
[751] Marcellinus Com., an. 514; Jn. Malala, xvi; Theophanes, an. 6005,
etc.
[752] Marcellinus Com., an. 514; Theophanes, an. 6005. The texts merely
imply, perhaps, that they deserted to Vitalian. Hypatius, the Byzantine
general, and nephew to Anastasius, was taken prisoner, deliberately
given up in fact. A second engagement, however, under Cyril, was
undoubtedly bloody; Jn. Malala, xvi.
[753] Jn. Malala, xvi; Zonaras (xiv, 3) says the fleet was inflamed by
burning (concave) mirrors.
[754] As a ransom for their captives; Marcellinus Com., an. 515;
Theophanes, an. 6006. The Senate negotiated for Anastasius.
[755] Marcellinus Com., an. 515.
[756] See, besides the above authorities, the correspondence between
Emperor and Pope (in Migne, S.L., lxiii, also Concil. and Baronius).
[757] Theophanes, an. 6006; Cedrenus, i, p. 632.
[758] All the chronographists relate the vision of Anastasius, to whom,
just before his death, a figure with a book appeared, saying: “For your
insatiable avarice I erase fourteen years.” Every one must regret the
inherent defect of character which deprived us of a centenarian emperor.
[759] That of Anastasius is the last life written by Tillemont, which,
as usual, he has illustrated by his wide erudition in ecclesiastical
literature. But the infantile credulity of the man in theological
matters abates much of the critical value of his work. Thus he gravely
questions if the action of the Deity was correct when, for the benefit
of the Persian king, he allowed a Christian bishop to release a
treasure guarded by demons whom the Magi had failed to exorcise. He
believes implicitly that an orthodox bishop emerged from the flames
intact so as to convince an Arian congener of his error, etc. Rose’s
thesis (Halle, 1886) on these wars is of some value.
[760] Strabo, II, i, 30, etc.; Pliny, Hist. Nat., ii, 112. The earth
was thought to be about 9,000 miles long and half that width, north to
south.
[761] Cosmas Indicopleustes, a merchant who eventually turned monk,
in his Christian Topography is our chief authority for popular
cosmogony and trade in the sixth century (in Migne, S.G.). The
theories of philosophers jar with his Biblical convictions and excite
his antagonism. He writes to prove that the world is flat, that the
sun rounds a great mountain in the north to cause night, etc. Being
something of a draughtsman he explains his views by cosmographical
diagrams, and figures many objects seen in his travels. There is an
annotated translation by McCrindle, Lond., 1899 (Hakluyt Soc.).
[762] Diodorus, Sic., v, 19, 22, etc. For tin to the Scilly Is., etc.
[763] Phoenician trade is summarized with considerable detail by
Ezekiel, xxvii; cf. Genesis, xxxvii, 25. But a couple of centuries
earlier the race was well known to Homer, who often adverts to their
skill in manufactures, as also to their knavery and chicanery:
Αὐτὴ δ’ ἐς θάλαμον κατεβήσατο κηώεντα,
Ἔνθ’ ἔσαν οἱ πέπλοι παμποίκιλοι, ἔργα γυναικῶν
Σιδονίων. κ.τ.λ.
Iliad, vi, 288.
Ἔνθα δὲ Φοίνικες ναυσίκλυτοι ἤλυθον ἄνδρες
Τρῶκται, μυρί’ ἄγοντες ἀθύρματα νηῒ μελαίνῃ ...
Τὴν δ’ ἄρα Φοίνικες πολυπαίπαλοι ἠπερόπευον. κ.τ.λ.
Odyssey, xv, 415.
The recently discovered ruins in Mashonaland (Rhodesia) prove, perhaps,
that their unrecorded expeditions reached to S. Africa; see works by
Bent, Neal and Hall, Keane, etc.
[764] 326 B.C. In Arrian’s Indica, 18, _et seq._
[765] Strabo, XVII, i, 13.
[766] Pliny, Hist. Nat., vi, 26; Pseud-Arrian, Peripl. Mar. Erythr.,
57. For a discussion as to the date of Hippalus see Vincent, Commerce
of the Ancients, ii, p. 47, etc. The S.W. monsoon blows from April to
October, the N.E. in the interval.
[767] Very small, however, according to modern ideas; Pliny (_op.
cit._, vi, 24) gives them 3,000 _amphorae_, not more than 40 or 50 tons
register. Arrian (_op. cit._, 19) marks the distinction between “long,
narrow war-galleys and round, capacious trading ships.” A few great
ships—floating palaces rather—were built by the Ptolemies and Hiero
of Syracuse, but they were never seriously employed in navigation;
Athenaeus, v, 36, _et seq._ Yet ships of at least 250 tons register
were in common use by 170; Pand., L, v, 3.
[768] Pliny, _op. cit._, vi, 26, _et seq._; Pseud-Arrian, _op. cit._,
57. The vessels had to be armed lest they should fall in with pirates.
“The merchant floating down the stream; the caravan crossing the
desert, mounting the defile, looking out upon the sea and its harbours;
the ferry passing the river; the mariners in their little ship—they
are real figures, yet they are nameless, all but a few; they suffer
and they succumb without ever finding a voice for their story. On the
desert, perhaps, a cloud of robber horse burst upon them; on the river
the boat sinks, overladen; in the mountain passes they drop with cold;
in the dirty lanes of the mart they die of disease. Commerce is not
organized, safeguarded, universalized, as at present, but, such as it
is, it reaches wide, and its life is never quite extinct.” Beazley,
Dawn of Modern Geography, i, p. 177.
[769] Pliny, _op. cit._, vi, 19. He remarks that Pompey, during the
Mithridatic war, first made the existence of this trade known to the
Romans; cf. Strabo, XI, ii, 16; the geographer notes that Dioscurias,
about 50 miles north of Phasis, was a great barbarian mart frequented
by 70, or even, as some said, by 300 different nations; see also
Ammianus, xxiii, 6.
[770] Cosmas, _op. cit._, ii; cf. Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 20.
[771] So called from a sophist who was murdered there; Libanius,
Epist., 20. Previously Nicephorium.
[772] Cod. Theod., VII, xvi, 2, 3, and Godfrey _ad loc._; Cod., IV,
lxiii, 4.
[773] The inhabitants were a mixed race, containing Semitic and
Hellenic elements, etc. Greek inscriptions were common there; Cosmas,
_op. cit._, ii; cf. Philostorgius, iii, 6, etc.
[774] For the transport of an army to the opposite coast the king was
able to collect 120 Roman, Persian, and native vessels; Act. Sanct.
(Boll.), lviii, p. 747 (not 1,300 as Finlay, i, p. 264, which comes
from adding a cipher to the figures in Surius).
[775] Called Taprobane by the Greek and Roman writers. It was
distinguished by the possession of an immense lustrous jewel (ruby
perhaps) which scintillated from the top of a temple; Cosmas, _op.
cit._, xi.
[776] The junks from Annam, as it appears, ploughed round the Malay
peninsula to Galle; Hirth, China and the Roman Orient, 1885, p. 178.
The Cingalese took no active part in the trade!; Tennant, Ceylon, i, p.
568 (_ibid._).
[777] Cosmas, _op. cit._, xi. His own trade seems to have lain chiefly
between Adule and Malabar. In this age all the southern regions
eastward of the Nile were commonly referred to as India; and that river
was often named as the boundary between Africa and Asia. Hence the Nile
was said to rise in India; Procopius, De Aedific., vi, 1, etc.
[778] Now Somaliland.
[779] Cosmas, _op. cit._, xi; cf. Strabo, XVI, iv, 14. When Nonnosus
went to Axume, _c._ 330, he saw 5,000 elephants grazing in a vast
plain; Excerpt., p. 480.
[780] Cosmas, _op. cit._, ii. This kind of wordless barter was also the
mode of trading with the Serae or Chinese on the higher reaches of the
Brahmaputra (?); Pliny, Hist. Nat., vi, 24; Ammianus, xxiii, 6; cf.
Herodotus, iv, 196.
[781] Pliny, _op. cit._, xii, 30. This district was also called the
land of Frankincense; cf. Strabo, XVI, iv, 25; Pseud-Arrian, _op.
cit._, 29. There was also a port called Arabia Felix on or near the
site of modern Aden.
[782] Cosmas, _op. cit._, xi. White slaves, especially beautiful
females for concubinage, were among the most important exports to
India; Pseud-Arrian, _op. cit._, 49. One Eudoxus tried to reach
that country by rounding West Africa with a cargo of choir girls,
physicians, and artisans, but twice failed; Strabo, II, iii, 4. In the
time of Pliny the Empire was drained by the East yearly to the amount
of £800,000 in specie; Hist. Nat., xii, 41. Statues and paintings were
also exported from the Empire; Strabo, XVI, iv, 26; Pseud-Arrian, _op.
cit._, 48; Philostratus, Vit. Apol., v, 20. The import of precious
stones, etc., may be conceived from the statement that Lollia Paulina
appeared in the theatre wearing emeralds and pearls to the value of
£304,000; Pliny, _op. cit._, ix, 58.
[783] Cosmas, _op. cit._, ii.
[784] Malchus, p. 234; Theophanes, an. 5990. The island was taken
by the Scenite (tent-dwelling) Arabs under Theodosius II, but was
recovered by Anastasius.
[785] _Ibid._
[786] Antoninus Martyr, Perambulatio, etc., 38, 41 (trans. in Pal.
Pilgr. Text Soc., ii). The martyr, however, is a liar, as he professes
to have produced wine from water at Cana, unless some brother monk in
copying has been anxious to enhance his reputation. Clysma is now Suez.
[787] Rhinocolura, near Gaza, was the depôt for this trade in the time
of Strabo (XVI, iv, 24).
[788] Strabo, XVII, i, 45; Pliny, Hist. Nat., vi, 26; Pseud-Arrian,
_op. cit., passim_. Cosmas does not mention Berenice, but it was
flourishing in the time of Procopius (De Aedific., vi, 2).
[789] Strabo, XVII, i, 45; Pliny, _op. cit._, vi, 26.
[790] Strabo, XVI, iv, 24; XVII, iv, 10, _et seq._ There was a canal
from the Red Sea to the Nile, but it silted up too rapidly to be
permanently used. In Roman times Trajan last reopened it; see Lethaby
and S., _op. cit._, p. 236, for monographs on this subject.
[791] Notitia Or., X, XII; Cod. Theod., X, xx, xxi, xxii, and
Godefroy’s commentaries; Cod., XI, viii, ix, x.
[792] Strabo, XVI, iv, 24; Pliny, _op. cit._, v, 16. There were
different shades of purple and only the imperial shade was prohibited;
Pliny, _op. cit._, xxi, 22. The murex was gathered in several other
places, especially Laconia, where it was inferior only to that of Tyre;
Pausanias, iii, 21, etc.
[793] Sozomen, v, 15. Much money was also coined at Cyzicus.
[794] Cod. Theod., X, xx, 8.
[795] Cod., IV, lxxxiii, 6. This doubtless applied only to great
houses, not to petty retail dealers and shopkeepers (to the
ἔμπορος not the κάπηλος); the number seems too large to understand it
of the capital alone.
[796] Pliny, _op. cit._, viii, 73; Athenaeus, i, 50; xv, 17, etc.
[797] Strabo, XII, viii, 16; Pliny, _op. cit._, 73, etc.
[798] Athenaeus, ii, 30; vi, 67.
[799] Pliny, _op. cit._, xi, 27, etc. It is a question whether the
transparent Coan fabrics were of silk, linen, or cotton, or a mixture.
[800] Procopius, Anecdot., 25.
[801] _Ibid._
[802] Athenaeus, i, 50.
[803] Pliny, _op. cit._, xxxv, 46.
[804] Strabo, XVI, ii, 25; Pliny, _op. cit._, xxxvi, 65. False stones
were plentifully manufactured; _ibid._, xxxvii, 78, etc.
[805] Strabo, XIII, iv, 17.
[806] Athenaeus, i, 50; xiii, 24.
[807] Pliny, _op. cit._, xiii, 21.
[808] Strabo, XVII, i, 15; Pliny, _op. cit._, xiii, 22; Hist. August.
Firmus, etc.
[809] Pausanias, v, 5; vii, 21.
[810] Strabo, XIII, iv, 14.
[811] Cod. Theod., XV, xi; Cod., XI, xliv. Indigenously called Mabog.
It was a mart of venal beauty as well as of beasts; Lucian, De Syria
Dea.
[812] Ammianus, xxix, 4; Procopius, Anecdot. 21.
[813] Pliny, _op. cit._, iv, 27; xxxvii, 11.
[814] Pliny, _op. cit._, xiv, _passim_; Athenaeus, i, 52, 55; x,
_passim_.
[815] Strabo, XVII, iii, 23; Pliny, xxiv, 48; measuring more than 100
by 30 miles. What silphium really was is now indeterminate, but it
was economically akin to garlic and asafoetida. It seems to have been
indispensable in ordinary cooking.
[816] Totius Orb. Descript. (Müller, Geog. Graec. Min., Paris, 1861)
36; Procopius, De Aedific., v, 1.
[817] Tot. Orb. Descr., 51, 53. This tract from a Greek original (_c._
350) summarizes the productions of the whole Empire, and for the most
part confirms the continuance of the industries adverted to by the
earlier and more copious writers.
[818] Athenaeus, i, 49.
[819] _Ibid._
[820] Strabo, VII, vi, 2; Pliny, ix, 17, _et seq._
[821] Cosmas, _op. cit._, ii.
[822] Several “embassies” from Rome are mentioned in the Chinese
annals, but nothing seems to have been known of them in the West. Stray
merchants sometimes penetrated very far; Strabo, XV, i, 4. At first
Rome is disguised as _Ta-thsin_, but later (643) the Byzantine power
figures as _Fou-lin_; see Pauthier, Relat. polit. de la Chine avec les
puiss. occid., 1859; cf. Hirth, _op. cit._, who was without books to
pursue the inquiry; Florus, iv, 12, etc.
[823] Aristotle, Hist. Animal., v, 19; Pliny, _op. cit._, xi, 26;
Pausanias, vi, 26.
[824] Cosmas, _op. cit._, ii.
[825] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 30.
[826] A serf was called _colonus_, _inquilinus_, or _adscriptus
glebae_, terms fairly synonymous; Cod., XI, xlvii, 13. Godefroy’s
paratitlon to Cod. Theod., V, ix, x, is an epitome of everything
relating to the serfs of antiquity; cf. Savigny, Römische Colonat
u.s.w. Berlin Acad., 1822-3. The name of modern works on slavery and
serfdom is legion.
[827] Cod., XI, xlvii, 21.
[828] _Ibid._, 18, 23.
[829] Cod. Theod., X, xv, and Godefroy _ad loc._; Pand., XLVII, vi;
Novel., xvii, 17; lxxxv, 4, etc. This general disarmament of the
industrial classes often left them defenceless against the barbarian
raiders, as is instanced practically by Synesius, Epist. 107. Yet in an
age of non-explosives peasants armed only with agricultural implements
could become terrible, as was shown in Paphlagonia (359), when the
incensed Novatian sectaries routed the legionaries sent against them
with their hatchets, reaping-hooks, etc.; Socrates, ii, 30; Sozomen,
iv, 21.
[830] Cod. Theod., X, xx, 16.
[831] _Ibid._, X, xx, xxi, xxii; Cod., XI, viii, ix, x. To be a public
baker (_manceps_) was a particular sort of punishment; Cod. Theod.,
XIV, lii, 22, etc.
[832] _Ibid._, X, xx, 3, 5, 10, 15. Male and female alike, as well as
their offspring, became bound to the sodality into which they married.
The _addicti_ were branded on the arm like recruits; _ibid._, X, xxi,
4; cf. IX, xl, 2; Cod., XI, ix, 2. Scarcely less stringent were the
rules by which even the private guilds or colleges were governed. All
the trades were incorporated in such associations under an official
charter; Cod. Theod., XIV, ii-viii. But the note of personal liberty
had already been sounded, and the more coercive restrictions were
omitted from the later Code; cf. Choisy, L’art de batir chez les
Byzantins, Paris, 1883, p. 200, etc. (Mommsen’s pioneer work on guilds
is well known).
[833] Cod. Theod., XIII, v, vi, ix; Cod., X, ii, etc. (and Godefroy).
[834] Procopius, De Aedfiic., v, 1.
[835] Although their property was held in lien by the state as security
for the maintenance of ships, it appears that they could grow rich
through the facilities they enjoyed for private commerce and possess an
independent fortune; Cod. Theod., XIII, vi; cf. Pand., L, iv, 5. Hence
some joined voluntarily.
[836] Cod. Theod., XII, i. This title, the longest of all (192 laws),
provides us with a plummet with which we may sound the depths of their
misery, and exemplifies their eagerness to escape to any other mode of
existence as well as the stringency with which they were reclaimed.
[837] Hence their property was always in chancery, as we may say,
and the Curia to which they belonged was their reversionary heir,
necessarily to a fourth; Cod., X, xxxiv. In the Code the laws relating
to them are reduced to about seventy; X, xxxi, _et seq._ Their duties
and liabilities are indexed in Godefroy’s paratitlon. Libanius had seen
people of substance reduced to beggary by these obligations; Epitaph.
Juliani (R., I., p. 571). Majorian (457-61) attempted reforms in the
West.
[838] See Libanius, Epist., 248, 339, 825, 1079, 1143, etc. The sophist
had much interest owing to the number of pupils he had trained to
succeed in advocacy, etc., and could often beg off one old disciple
by appealing to another. A Rector’s nod in such cases was more potent
than an Imperial rescript; Cod. Theod., XII, i, 17; _ibid._, 1,
notwithstanding. Zeno enacted that even some Illustrious officials
should not be exempt after vacating their office; Cod., X, xxxi, 64, 65.
[839] Fathers of a dozen children were released or not called upon;
Cod. Theod., XII, i, 55; Cod., X, xxxi, 24. Otherwise disease or
decrepit old age seem to have the only effective claims for relief,
apart from interest, bribery, etc. The general result of this political
economy was that the Empire resembled a great factory, in which each
one had a special place, and was excluded from everywhere else.
“In England a resident of Leeds is at home in Manchester, and has
judicially the same position as a citizen of Manchester, whereas in the
Roman Empire a citizen of Thessalonica was an alien in Dyrrachium; a
citizen of Corinth an alien in Patras”; Bury, Later Rom. Emp., i, p. 38.
[840] The Verrine sequence of Cicero’s speeches remains a picture up
to this date of the usual tyranny of a Roman governor. Few went to the
provinces with any other idea but that of rapine. “Cessent jam nunc
rapaces officialium manus,” says Constantine, “cessent inquam: nam
si moniti non cessaverint, gladiis praecidentur,” etc.; Cod. Theod.,
I, vii, 1. The revolution of two centuries brings no improvement:
“Confluunt huc (Constantinople) omnes ingemiscentes, sacerdotes, et
curiales, et officiales, et possessores, et populi, et agricolae,
judicum furta merito et injustitias accusantes,” etc.; Novel., viii,
Pro. For this law, ineffective as ever, all are enjoined to return
thanks to God! a vain parade of legislation.
[841] Cod. Theod., X, xxiv; XII, ix; Salvian, De Gubern. Dei, v, 4, _et
passim_. Titles x, xi, xii, xiii, xiv (of X) deal with the self-seekers
who, in the guise of delators or informers, infested the Court in
unsettled times and tried to oust people from their possessions by
accusing them of treason; cf. Ammianus, xix, 12, etc.
[842] Cod. Theod., XI, vi; Ammianus, xvii, 3; Salvian, _op. cit._, v,
7, etc.
[843] So Verres, ii, 38, etc.
[844] Cod. Theod., XII, vi, 27, etc.
[845] _Ibid._, XI, vi, viii; XV, i; and Godefroy’s commentaries. The
Defenders of the Cities seem to have been in general too cowed to
exercise their prerogative or were gained over.
[846] _Ibid._, VIII, xv. In this, as in other instances, I refer to the
laws against the offences which were committed in disregard of them.
Godefroy usually supplies exemplifications.
[847] _Ibid._, XI, xxx, 4; xxxiv.
[848] Cod. Theod., X, ix, 1, and Godefroy _ad loc._; cf. _ibid._, i,
2; Novel. xvii, 15; Agathias, v, 4. They even attempted to invalidate
Imperial grants. Notices on purple cloth were suspended to denote
confiscation of estates to the crown.
[849] Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., v, 34; ix, 14, etc.
[850] Palladius, Vit. Paphnutii; Hist. Lausiaca, 63 (not by Jerome, as
Godefroy _ad_ Cod. Theod., III, iii).
[851] Synesius, Epist., 79, 96, etc. These may have been isolated
devices of Andronicus at Ptolemais. One of his subordinates used to
seize objects of art _à la_ Verres. Yet these men were only reached by
the happy thought of excommunicating them. In this the great Athanasius
had set the example.
[852] Cod. Theod., IX, xxxv, and Godefroy. This was the regular method
of scourging, but illegal as a means of enforcing payment of taxes;
_ibid._, XI, vii, 7. The Egyptians were particularly obstinate, and
even proud to show the weals they had suffered sooner than pay;
Ammianus, xxii, 6, 16.
[853] Cod. Theod., XI, xxviii, 10, 14; cf. vii, 20.
[854] Evagrius, iii, 39. He pretended to have made a sad mistake, and
spread a report that he would promptly reimpose it were he not without
documentary evidence to enable the books to be reopened. Enticed by
this ruse the knavish collectors brought in the accounts they had kept
back and a second conflagration was made with them.
[855] Under Arcadius the traffic was barefaced by Eutropius, and
probably little less so in the succeeding reign by Chrysaphius:
Vestibulo pretiis distinguit regula gentes.
Tot Galatae, tot Pontus, eat, tot Lydia nummis.
Si Lyciam tenuisse velis, tot millia ponas, etc.
Claudian, In Eutropium, i, 202.
Afterwards it was more underhand; see Novel. viii.
[856] As Bury well observes; Gibbon, v, p. 533.
[857] Cod., I, xlviii.
[858] Novel. viii; xcv; clxi.
[859] Cod. Theod., III, iii; V, viii; XI, xxvii, and Godefroy’s
illustrations. Sold in this way, Roman citizens were not held in
perpetual bondage, but regained their liberty after serving for a term;
cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Ep., viii, 33. Constantine was shocked to find
that deaths from starvation were frequent in his dominions, and so
advertised a measure of outdoor relief, which Rectors were instructed
to exhibit conspicuously in all parts; cf. Lactantius, Divin. Inst.,
vi, 20. The same Constantine is the author of an extravagant law by
which lovers who elope together are subjected to capital (?) punishment
without any suffrance of accommodation, whilst even persons who may
have counselled them to the step are condemned to perish by having
molten lead poured down their throats. By such frantic whims could
legislation be travestied in those days; Cod. Theod., IX, xxiv.
[860] Cod. Theod., II, xiv; Cod., II, xvi; Augustine, Enarr. in Psalm.
XXI, etc.
[861] Cod., IX, xii, 10. See Priscus for a general outline of some of
the grievances dealt with in this article; Hist. Goth. Excerpt., p.
190; cf. Nov. xxxiii, etc.
[862] Cod. Theod., XI, xxiv; Cod., XI, liii; cf. liv. Libanius in the
East and Salvian in the West, at the distance of nearly a century,
complain in analogous terms of the manner in which the wealthy
residents turned the tribulations of their poorer neighbours to their
own profit; De Prostasiis (ii, p. 493 R.); De Gubern. Dei, v, 8, 9; cf.
Nov. xxxiii, etc.
[863] Cod. Theod., XIII, i, 16; XVI, ii, 10, etc. “Distincta enim
stipendia sunt religionis et calliditatis” is the caustic taunt
put into the mouth of Arcadius. The concessions were withdrawn by
Valentinian III (Novel. II, xii), ineffectively we may safely assume
from Nov. xliii; 1,100 duty-free shops at CP. belonging to St. Sophia
alone.
[864] Cod. Theod., XII, xiv.
[865] _Ibid._, IX, xxx, 2, 5; xxxi. A further hardship was the
quartering of soldiers on private persons, but this, of course,
was only local and temporary. The Goths and other barbarians were
especially harsh and grasping among those who had to receive them when
in transit through the country; see Jos. Stylites, _op. cit._, 86.
Generally the military were arrogant towards, and contemned the civil
population; Zosimus, ii, 34.
[866] There seems to be no good reason why children should not now be
taught from a primer of scientific cosmology, and have a catechism
of ethics as well to the exclusion of everything mythological. The
human brain is a weak organ of mind, and requires, above all things,
a tonic treatment. Nothing can be more enfeebling than any teaching
which causes children to imagine that they are surrounded by unseen
intelligences having the power to affect them for good or evil. In most
instances, a mind so subdued never recovers its resiliency; liberty
of thought is always hampered by dread of the invisible; and many of
our greatest men have been unable in after life to free themselves
from this fatuity. There should, however, be places of public assembly
where people could resort for ethical direction and encouragement,
without the lessons taught being vitiated or nullified by being made to
depend on mythology. But the objectionable name “agnostic” should be
discarded, as if to be properly educated were to belong to a peculiar
sect. It suggests a country in which a special designation has to be
given to all who are neither diseased nor deformed.
[867] Even Cicero affects to think it _infra dig._ for him to show any
correct knowledge of the most famous Greek sculptors; Verres, II, iv.
[868] Suetonius, De Ill. Gram., 2; De Clar. Rhet., 1; Aul. Gell., xv,
11. Crates Mallotes has the credit of being the first Greek Grammarian
who taught at Rome, _c. 157_ B.C. The Rhetoricians had migrated
earlier, and in 161 a SC. was launched against them, and again a few
years later.
[869] When the system was fully organized under Ant. Pius (138-161),
the largest communities were allowed ten Physicians, five Rhetoricians
(or Sophists), and three Grammarians; the smallest recognized under the
scheme, five Physicians, three Rhetoricians, and three Grammarians;
Pand., XXVII, i, 6; Hist. August. Ant. Pius, 11. Antonius Musa,
physician to Augustus, seems to have been the first learned man to
whom public honours were decreed at Rome, viz., a statue of brass on
the recovery of the Emperor, 23 B.C.; Suetonius, August., 59, 81. He
was even the cause of privileges being conferred on his profession
generally; Dion Cass., liii, 30. Vespasian was the first to give
regular salaries to Rhetoricians; he also gave handsome presents to
poets, artists, and architects, and granted relief from public burdens
to physicians and philosophers; Suetonius in Vita, 18; Pand., L, iv,
18(30). But the idea of remitting their taxes to learned men was old;
Diogenes Laert., Pyrrho, 5. That of selling philosophers for slaves
when they could not pay them, was also old; _ibid._, Xenocrates; Bion.
Hadrian, called _Graeculus_ from his pedantry, also did much for the
cause of learning; Hist. August. in Vita, 1, 17, and commentators. The
Athenaeum at Rome was his foundation, an educational college of which
no details are known; Aurel. Victor, in Vita. Alexander Sev. went
further than any of his predecessors in granting an allowance to poor
students; Hist. August. in Vita, 44.
[870] Cod. Theod., XV, i, 53, and Godefroy _ad loc._
[871] Zacharias, De Opific., Mund., 40, _et seq._ (in Migne, S. G.,
lxxxv, 1011); See Hasaeus, De Acad. Beryt., etc. Halae Magd., 1716. The
humblest school was adorned with figures of the Muses; Athenaeus, viii,
41; Diogenes Laert., Diog., 6. A lecture hall was generally called a
“Theatre of the Muses”; Himerius, Or., xxii; Themistius, Or., xxi.
[872] Diogenes Laert., Theophrastus, 14; Eumenius, De Schol. Instaur.;
Themistius, Or., xxvi, etc.
[873] Gregory Naz., Laud. Basil, 14, _et seq._ In Julian, ii; Zosimus,
v, 5. Synesius pictures the schools as deserted when he visited Athens
(_c. 410_); no philosophers, no painted porches, nothing in evidence
but the jars of honey from Hymettus. Hypatia, in fact, was attracting
every one to Alexandria. After her murder, however, it doubtless began
to recuperate (_c_. 415). Themistius inveighs against those parents
who sent their sons to a _place_ on account of its repute, instead of
looking out for the _best man_. He mentions that pupils came to him
at CP. from Greece and Ionia; Or., xxvii; xxiii. The students of this
age are described as extremely fractious. At Athens, a great commotion
greeted the arrival of a freshman, who was put through a rude ordeal
until they had passed him into the public bath, whence he issued again
as an accepted comrade; Gregory Naz., Laud. Basil., 16. There also they
fought duels, and Libanius reprobates their presenting themselves to
him slashed with knives; Epist., 627; Himerius, Or., xxii. Practical
jokes amongst themselves, or played on the professors, were often
pushed by the students to the verge of criminality; Pand. praef.,
2(9). At Carthage St. Augustine found his class for rhetoric so unruly
that he threw it up and migrated to Rome. There, indeed, they were
more orderly, but indulged in the galling practice of flocking in a
body to a certain teacher, whom they suddenly abandoned after a time,
forgetting to pay their fees. Sick of it all, he eagerly closed with an
offer of the P. U. to take up a salaried post at Milan; Confess., v, 8,
12, 13.
[874] Cod. Theod., XIV, ix, 3; Cod., XI, xviii.
[875] _Ibid._
[876] Cod. Theod., XIV, ix, 2. Constantius seems to have founded the
first great library (_c._ 351), and another was originated by Julian;
Themistius, Or., iv; see p. 88. Themistius says that he spent twenty
years in studying the “old treasures” of literature at CP.; Or., xxxiii
(p. 359, Dind.).
[877] Themistius, Or., xxiii; xxviii, etc. Chrysostom, Ad Pop. Ant.
Hom. xvii, 2 (in Migne, ii, 173).
[878] See p. 58; Themistius, Or., xxiv; cf. Cresollius, Theatr. Vet.
Rhet., Paris, 1620, a huge repertory of details relating to this class.
[879] Themistius, Or., xxviii, etc.
[880] Themistius, Or., xiii; Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Ephes. Hom. xxi,
3 (in Migne, xi, 153); Eunapius, Proaeresius. These popular lectures
were often merely colloquial entertainments, such as used to be
associated with the name of Corney Grain, without the music. See the
correspondence of Basil Mag. with Libanius, Epist., 351 (Migne), _et
seq._, L.’s most effective piece, a dialogue in which he mimicked the
fretfulness of a morose man.
[881] Cod. Theod., XIII, iii, 1, and Godefroy _ad loc._ At this time,
however, pagan professors were often much persecuted by Christian
fanatics, and Themistius complains that they were even officially
muzzled; Or., xxvi, and _ibid._ Professors were naturally the last to
become converts. As to the general esteem in which the class was held,
see the poetical commemoration of the Bordeaux professors by Ausonius.
Lucian deals satirically with philosophers in his Eunuch, De Merc.
Cond., Hermotimus, etc.
[882] Cod. Theod., XIII, iii, 7, and Godefroy _ad loc._; Cod., X, lii,
8; Themistius, Or., xxi, etc. Chrysostom, _loc. cit._ (note 4 _supra_).
[883] Cod. Theod., XIII, iii, 5. A law of Julian to facilitate his
ousting Christian professors, but retained for its literal application.
[884] Themistius fairly covers the ground as to this question; Or.,
xxi; xxiii. The inferior teachers were exacting, and even extortionate.
They accused him of requiring a talent (£240?), but he asked nothing at
CP. where he was subsidized; on the contrary, he assisted needy pupils.
Still, he received a great deal of money as presents. At Antioch, where
it was the custom, he took fees like the rest. For more ancient times
and generally, see Cresollius, _op. cit._, v, 3, 4, etc. What the
government paid is uncertain. Augustus gave V. Flaccus £800 a year for
acting exclusively as tutor to his nephews; Suetonius, De Ill. Gram.,
17. £1,040 has been conjectured as the salary of Eumenius (600,000
_nummi_, _op. cit._). In Diocletian’s Act for fixing prices, ordinary
schoolmasters are allowed only about 4_s._ a month, professors 12_s._;
for each pupil in a class, of course. The case of M. Aurelius bestowing
£400 per ann. on the professors at Athens is also to be noted; Dion
Cass., lxxxi, 31.
[885] Chrysostom, Genesis, i, Hom. iii, 3 (in Migne, iv, 29); In Epist.
ad Coloss. Hom. iv, 3 (in Migne, xi, 328); Paulus Aegin., i, 14; cf.
Quintilian, i, 1, etc. Youths from the provinces studying at Rome were
packed home again at twenty, but this order seems to have been dropped
later on; Cod. Theod., XIV, ix, 1 (not retained in Code).
[886] On first methods with children, see Quintilian, i; Jerome,
Epist., 107; Chrysostom, Ad Pop. Ant. Hom. xvi, 14 (in Migne, ii,
168); De Mut. Nom. ii, 1 (in Migne, iii, 125); Genesis, i, Hom. iii,
3; Epist. Coloss. i, Hom. iv, 3 (in Migne, xi, 329), etc. Libanius, In
Chriis (Reiske, ii, p. 868). The first book of Augustine’s Confessions
gives many particulars as to his own bringing up in childhood. Greek
nursemaids were hired at Rome so that young children might learn the
language; Tacitus, De Caus. Cor. Eloq., 29. Wooden or ivory letters
were used as playthings. These schoolmasters are represented as very
harsh instructors, who cowed the spirit of their pupils. The rod was
freely used, and chiefly by the paedagogue. Even scholars of maturer
age were corrected by whipping. Libanius used to “wake up the lazy ones
with a strap, the incorrigible he expelled.” Epist., 1119. Chrysostom
himself accepts as axiomatic that nothing can be done with boys without
beating; Act. Apost. Hom. xlii, 4 (in Migne, ix, 308). Quintilian and
Paul of Aegina, however, advise going on the opposite tack; _loc. cit._
[887] Pand., L, v, 2, etc.
[888] Martianus Capella, an African who lived in the fifth century, is
the author of the only self-contained manual of liberal education which
has come down to us. His treatise seems to contain all the book-work a
student was expected to do while under oral teaching by the professors.
Cassiodorus has left a slight tract, but he recommends other volumes to
supplement his own merely tentative work. Isidore of Seville, a century
later, has also included an epitome of the seven liberal arts in the
first three books of his Etymologies, but his exposition is almost as
thin as that of Cassiodorus. The remaining seventeen books are a sort
of encyclopaedic dictionary with explanatory jottings on almost every
subject, well worth dipping into.
[889] Introduced, perhaps, by Boethius; De Arith., i, 1.
Τετρακτὺς is found in Greek; Anna Comn.; i, pref.; see Ducange,
_sb. voc._ The latter word is really the original and goes back to
Pythagorean times.
[890] See Priscian, Partitiones, xii, Vers. Aen., etc.
[891] After Rome had produced good writers, such as Virgil, Horace,
Livy, etc., they were added to the course of literature in the West;
Quintilian, i, 8; x.
[892] There is some obscurity about his date, which suggests that he
was a centenarian. Ordericus Vit. says he died in 425; cf. Cassiodorus,
De Orthograph., 12, etc.
[893] “One father,” says Chrysostom, “points out to his son how some
one of low birth by learning eloquence obtained promotion to high
office, won a rich wife, and became possessed of wealth with a fine
house, etc., or how another through a mastery of Latin achieved a great
position at Court”; Adv. Oppug. Vit. Mon., iii, 5 (in Migne, i, 357).
[894] The details of teaching are presented most circumstantially in
the rhetorical catechism of Fortunatianus (_c. 450_).
[895] Cresollius has brought together an immense amount of information
on this branch of the art in his Vacationes Autumnales, Paris, 1620;
cf. Kayser in his introduction to the lives of Philostratus (Teubner).
Blandness of voice was sedulously pursued by professional sophists, and
_plasmata_, or emollient medicaments were much resorted to. There was
a _phonascus_, or voice-trainer, who paid special attention to such
matters.
[896] Libanius has outlined very clearly the course of instruction
through which he put his class; Epist., 407.
[897] Nothing could be more meagre than the allusions to this subject;
even the treatise on geometry by Boethius, which seems to have been
the only one current, contains little more than enunciations of
propositions.
[898] I have already referred to the geography of this period, see p.
182.
[899]
Altera pars orbis sub aquis jacet invia nobis,
Ignotaeque hominum gentes, nec transita regna,
Commune ex uno lumen ducentia sole, etc.
Manilius (Weber), i, 375.
The Christian fathers ridicule the antipodes severely. “More rational
to say that black was white”; Lactantius, Div. Inst., iii, 24; Epitome,
39. “The earth stands firm on water [going back to Thales] and does
not turn”; Chrysostom, Genesis, Hom. xii, 3, 4 (in Migne, iv, 101); In
Titum Hom. iii, 3 (in Migne, xi, 680); cf. Cosmas Ind., _op. cit._, x,
for other theological authorities on cosmology.
[900] Such as that five represents the world, being made up of three
and two, which typify male and female respectively; or that seven
equates Minerva, the virgin, neither contained or containing; and
other Pythagorean notions; see M. Capella, vii, and the arithmetic of
Boethius.
[901] Such is the well-known system elaborated by Hipparchus and
Ptolemy, but the Pythagoreans put the sun at the centre, though without
definite reasons and with imaginative details; see Diogenes Laert.
and Delambre’s Hist. Astron. Ant. Although Democritus, Epicurus, and
others held that there were an infinite number of worlds (κόσμοι), they
regarded the objective universe as only one of them, and had no idea
that myriads of systems similar to that in which they lived lay before
their eyes.
[902] Thus M. Capella states that Mercury and Venus revolve round
the sun; and Isidore of Seville says the crystalline sphere runs so
fast that did not the stars retard it by running the opposite way the
universe would fall to pieces; Etymolog., iii, 35.
[903] See Themistius, Or., xxvi (p. 327 Dind.); cf. Boethius (?), De
Discipl. Scholar., iii.
[904] Graduated from about A below treble stave to E in fourth space (A
to E″ = La_{2} to Mi_{4}), but there seems to have been great variety
in pitch.
[905] Cassiodorus often alludes to the organ of his time, especially in
Exposit. Psal. CL, where he describes many instruments. See Daremberg
and Saglio, _sb. voc._
[906] See M. Capella, ix; Boethius on Music, etc., and Hadow’s Oxford
History of Music, 1901.
[907] See Plato, Protagoras, 43, etc. Even in the time of Homer the
Greek warriors were practical musicians, but the Romans were not
so originally. I can make no definite statement as to how far the
Byzantine upper classes were performers on instruments at this date,
but see Jerome, Ep., 107. Further remarks on Greek education, with
references to an earlier stratum of authors, will be found in Hatch,
Hibbert Lectures, 1888, ii, _et seq._ There is a great compilation by
Conringius (De Antiq. Academ., Helmstadt, 1651), which I have found
extremely useful. From the observations of Chrysostom (see p. 118), it
appears that little advantage was taken of educational facilities in
his day, but it may be assumed that the foundation of the Auditorium
caused mental culture to be fashionable, at least for a time.
[908] Themistius, Or., xxvi, _loc. cit._ Theodosius II was the first
Christian emperor who systematically fostered philosophy by creating
a faculty at CP. and extending clearly to philosophers the immunities
granted to other professors; Cod. Theod., XIII, iii, 16; XIV, ix,
3; Cod., X, lii, 14, etc. We are continually reminded that Socrates
brought down the sophists of his time from star-gazing and speculation
as to the origin of things to the ethics of common life. Thence arose
a succession of dialogues in which Utopian republics were discussed,
where wives should be in common so that everybody might be the
supposititious brother, etc., of every one else. A more harmonious
community could not be engendered by such a device; cf. Herodotus, iv,
104.
[909] See the elogium of Berytus in Nonnus, Dionysiacs, xli. From
389, etc., Hasacus (_op. cit._) thinks that the school was founded by
Augustus after the battle of Actium, but it is first distinctly noted
as flourishing _c. 231_; Gregory Thaum., Panegyric. in Origen, 1, 5 (in
Migne, S. G., 1051).
[910] Pand. praef., 2 [7]; Totius Orb. Descript.; Gotlefroy _ad_ Cod.
Theod., XI, i, 19, etc.
[911] Nowhere definitely expressed, but inferred from Pand. praef., 2
(superscription), with confirmative evidence; see Hasaeus, _op. cit._,
viii, 2, _et seq._
[912] The freshmen rejoiced in the “frivolous and ridiculous cognomen”
of _Dupondii_ (equivalent to “Tuppennies,” apparently); in the second
year they became _Edictionaries_ (students of Hadrian’s Perpetual
Edict); thirdly, _Papinianistae_ (engaged on the works of Papinian);
fourthly, Αύται (when reading Paulus); fifthly, the last year,
_Prolytae_ (mainly given up to reviewing previous studies); Pand.
praef., 2. The last two terms are not explained; the idea is evidently
that of being _loosed_ or dismissed from the courses. Cf. Macarius
Aegypt. Hom. xv, 42 (in Migne, S. G., xxxiv, 604), who presents a
different scheme, perhaps, from the Alexandrian law-school.
[913] The first attempt at consolidating the laws was the Perpetual
Edict of Hadrian, _c. 120_.
[914] Pand., _loc. cit._ And many more were probably dragged up in
court from time to time, which it would be the bent of despotism to
taboo. Cod. Theod., I, iv, gives the rule as to deciding knotty points
by the collation of legal experts.
[915] It was specially decreed by Diocletian that students might remain
at B. to the age of twenty-five; Cod., X, xlix, 1. This law could
doubtless be pleaded even against a call to their native Curia. We
need not suppose that the periods allotted to the various branches of
education were always rigidly adhered to in spite of circumstances.
Thus Libanius complains that his pupils used to run off to the study
of law before he had put them through the proper routine of rhetorical
training, the moment they had mastered a little Latin in fact; iii, p.
441-2 (Reiske).
[916] Sufficiat medico ad commendandam artis auctoritatem, si
Alexandriae se dixerit eruditum; Ammianus, xxii, 16. This celebrity was
won _c. 300_ B.C. through the distinction acquired by Erasistratus and
Herophilus. See Conringius, _op. cit._, i, 26.
[917] Cod., I, ii, 19, 22; this and the next title for charities
_passim_.
[918] Even Plato held this notion (Timaeus, 72), but it was flouted at
once by Chrysippus; Plutarch, De Stoic. Repug., 29.
[919] Galen gives very correct descriptions of the action of the
larynx; Oribasius, xxiv, 9; and tells us how he satisfied himself by
various vivisections that the blood actually flowed in the arteries; An
Sanguis in Arter. Nat. Cont.; De Placit., i, 5; vi, 7, 8, etc.
[920] Themistius, Or., i.
[921] What appears to be an epitome of current knowledge of natural
history and botany is given by Cicero in De Nat. Deor., ii, 47, etc.
[922] See especially Dioscorides, ii. Tinctures and ointments made from
toads, scorpions, bugs, woodlice, centipedes, cockroaches, testes of
stag and horse, etc., were staple preparations. The realistic coloured
illustrations in the great edition published by Lonicerus in 1563 with
a colossal commentary, are worth looking at. The pills of seminal fluid
(_à la_ Brown-Séquard) decried in the _Pistis Sophia_ appear to have
been merely a mystic remedy.
[923] The profession did not yet stand apart from the lay community
as pronouncedly as at present. Thus Celsus, author of a noted medical
treatise, was an amateur, a Roman patrician in fact; and the precious
MS. of Dioscorides, with coloured miniatures, preserved at Vienna, was
executed (_c. 500_) for a Byzantine princess, Julia Anicia, daughter of
Olybrius, one of the fleeting emperors of the West.
[924] Less than a century previously Plutarch had declared the common
opinion that Fortune, having divested herself of her pinions and winged
shoes, had settled down as a permanent inhabitant of the Palatine Hill;
De Fortuna Rom.
[925] Art in the time of Augustus and Tiberius has to be judged mainly
by the wall-paintings recovered at Rome and Pompeii, many of which are
highly meritorious. For succeeding centuries a series of sculptures
remain which allow us to keep the retreat of art in constant view.
The chief landmarks are: 1. The arch of Titus and the column of
Trajan; 2. The Antonine column and the arch of Severus; 3. The arch
of Constantine, remarkable for its crudity and for some spaces being
filled by figures ravished from that of Titus; 4. The Theodosian
column at CP.; though much defaced, the incapacity of the executant is
still recognizable. The reproduction of the Arcadian pillar published
by Banduri (see p. 49) cannot be regarded as a faithful copy, it
being evident that the artist has elevated the bas-reliefs to his own
standard. In Agincourt, _op. cit._, and Mau’s Pompeii these subjects
are pictorially represented, as well as in many other works.
[926] Cod. Theod., XIII, iv, 1. Architectis plurimis opus est, sed quia
non sunt, etc. (334). His buildings were so hastily run up that they
soon went to ruin; Zosimus, ii, 32. Hence, perhaps, C.’s opinion that
there were no proper architects.
[927] Cod. Theod., XIII, iv, 1, 4. Few, however, of these regulations,
if any, were new; they were mostly in force before the reign of
Commodus; Pand., L, vi, 9.
[928] In the eleventh century, after a flush of splendour in the
already greatly contracted Empire, owing to the conquests of the
Saracens, this particular form of degeneracy began to be manifested.
“Les personnages sont trop longs, leur bras trop maigres, leur gestes
et leur mouvements plein d’affectation; une rigidité cadavérique est
repandue sur l’ensemble”; Kondakoff, Hist. de l’art byz., Paris, 1886,
ii, p. 138.
[929] This was not altogether new to the Greeks; for in the
juxtaposition of Athenian and Assyrian bas-reliefs at the British
Museum it can be seen that even the school of Phidias adhered to some
types which had originated in the East, drawing of horses, etc.
[930] See Lethaby and Swainson for arguments on this head. Certain
churches in the domical style at Antioch, Salonica, etc., are
maintained by some authorities to be anterior to the sixth century;
_op. cit._, x. For illustrations see Vogüé, Archit. de la Syrie cent.,
Paris, 1865-77.
[931] Thus even maidens in a state of nudity engaged publicly in the
athletic games at Sparta and Chios; Plutarch, Lycurgus; Athenaeus,
xiii, 20. The parade of virgins before Zeuxis at Agrigentum in order
that he might select models for his great picture of the birth of
Venus, as related by Pliny, has often been quoted; Hist. Nat., xxxv,
36. Yet even among the Greeks a squeamish modesty existed in some
quarters, as is evidenced by the famous statue of Venus by Praxiteles
having been rejected by the Coans in favour of a draped one, previous
to its being set up at Cnidus; _ibid._, xxxvi, 4; cf. Lucian, Amores.
[932] Thus Shakespeare:
See what a grace was seated on this brow:
Hyperion’s curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury,
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill.
Hamlet, III, 4.
[933] See p. 109.
[934] They vary in merit considerably; see some reproductions of the
better ones in Bayet, L’art byz., Paris, 1892, ii, 3, and other similar
works, especially Gori, _op. cit._ Specimens at South Kensington.
[935] Choricius of Gaza (_c._ 520) has left us an elaborate description
of such a church interior and also of the frescoes in a palace. The
whole has been republished by Bertrand in his work, Un art crit. dans
l’antiq., Paris, 1882. Modern Greek churches are precisely similar,
and those belonging to the monasteries of Mt. Athos are especially
noteworthy; see Bayet, _op. cit._, iv, 2. Two can be inspected in
London. That in Bayswater is a “Kutchuk Aya Sofia.” Walsh’s CP., Lond.,
1838, has a good engraving; ii, p. 31. See also the striking mosaics
of St. George’s, Salonica (Texier and P., _op. cit._), the Pompeiesque
style of which suggest an early date in church building—vistas of
superimposed arcades raised on a forest of fantastically graceful, but
impossible columns, architecture run wild in fact.
[936] “Du moment qu’il avait exécuté une composition dans la manière
antique et qu’il y avait mis toute la splendeur de sa palette, il
ne se demandait pas si le dessin de ses personnages était correct
ou non, s’ils se trainaient bien sur leur jambes, s’ils étaient
réellement assis sur une chaise ou un fauteuil, ou simplement appuyés
contre ces meubles”; Kondakoff, _op. cit._, i, 108. Of existing MSS.
with coloured miniatures, only some six or eight date back to these
early centuries. Labarte’s Hist. des arts indust., Paris, 1892, with
coloured facsimiles is the most satisfying work in which to study
mediaeval art objectively. At South Kensington a variety of specimens
are to be found, including ivories, enamels, paper casts of mosaics,
reproductions of frescoes, etc., many of which go as far back as the
sixth century.
[937] Oribasius, physician to Julian, seems to be the genuine father of
bookmaking, the real prototype of the “scissors and paste” author, but
he foreran the swarming of the brood by a couple of centuries.
[938] Gregory Nys., De Vit. S. Macrinae (in Migne, iii, 960). Whence it
appears that it was unusual for them to be taught to apply themselves
to the distaff or the needle. Maidenhood was mostly passed in luxury
and adornment; Chrysostom, Qual. Duc. Sint Uxores, 9 (in Migne, iii,
239); in Epist. ad Ephes., iv, Hom. xiii, 3 (in Migne, xi, 97); cf.
Jerome, Epist., 128, 130. The latter sets forth his ideas as to the
training of a girl at some length. As soon as she has imbibed the
first rudiments she is to begin psalm-singing and reading of prophets,
apostles, etc. Later she should proceed to the study of the fathers,
especially Cyprian, Athanasius, and Hilarius. She should spend much
time in church with her parents, and must be guarded circumspectly from
the attentions of the curled youth (_cincinatti_, _calamistrati_). She
rises betimes to sing hymns, and employs herself generally in weaving
plain textures. Silks and jewellery are to be rigorously eschewed;
and the saint cannot reconcile himself to the idea of an adult virgin
making use of the bath, as she should blush to see herself naked;
Epist., 107. His remarks, of course, apply directly to life at Rome.
[939] From Jerome’s letter just quoted it appears that it was usual for
girls to play on the lyre, pipe, and organ.
[940] See her life by Gregorovius, 1892. Her cento of Homeric verses
applied to Christ is extant. To her inspiration most probably is due
the foundation of the Auditorium at CP., and the prominence given
to philosophy. Pulcheria was occupied in building churches and in
disinterring the relics of martyrs.
[941] She is best known from the epistles of Synesius. Nothing of
hers is extant. Murdered 415, wife or maid uncertain; see Suidas,
_sb. nom._ She was scraped to pieces with shells, a mode of official
torture peculiar to the Thebais, which may have been inflicted often on
Christian ladies during Pagan persecutions. In other districts an iron
scraper was used; Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., viii, 9; 3, etc.
[942] I need not refer more particularly to the phenomena of
radio-activity and cathode rays, information concerning which has been
exploited by every popular periodical. The atoms (electrons) which
become visible in the low-pressure tube have been calculated to be of
but 1∕800 the magnitude of the hydrogen atom, and many physicists are
inclined to regard them as the first state of matter on its way to
resolution into the formless protyle or ether.
[943] A great part of modern books on chemistry is now devoted to
synthesis. Not only have such well-known organic substances as indigo,
vanilla, citric acid, etc., been prepared artificially, but also those
new articles of commerce, the aniline dyes, saccharine, etc. Numbers of
new drugs for therapeutic experiment are synthetized annually in the
great German laboratories of Bayer, Merck, etc.
[944] Especially suggestive are the ingenious experiments with
ferments, which tend to show that the anabolic and katabolic activities
of living matter may soon be imitated in the laboratory; see Buchner,
Bericht d. deutsch. chem. Gesel., xxx, xxxi, xxxii; also recent
physiological treatises in which are contained the speculations of
Pflüger and others as to the “biogens” of protoplasm, etc. Most
important of all is Loeb’s discovery of the possibility of chemical
fertilization; see Boveri, Das Problem der Befruchtung, Jena, 1902.
[945] Archytas, with his flying wooden dove, was the most noted
mechanician in this line; A. Gellius, x, 12, etc.
[946] Even windmills were unknown until they were introduced into
Europe by the Saracens in the twelfth century.
[947] It appears that of late years a dearth of candidates for orders
in every religious denomination of Christendom has been experienced,
but this may be due merely to the usual poverty of the career. The
Church should fall to principle not to poverty. And here we may
catch a glimpse of the process by which the various Protestant sects
may ultimately die out naturally: that young men of high character,
ambitious of honourable distinction, will avoid a profession which
entails an attitude of disingenuous reserve towards those whom they
are deputed to instruct. On the other hand it may be foreseen that the
Romish and Orthodox churches, upholding as they do a gross superstition
and instituting the members of their priesthood almost from childhood,
will retain their power over the masses for a much longer period,
until at last they have to face suppression by force. Those who at the
present time are engaged in impressing a belief in obsolete mythologies
on the community should realize that they are doing an evil service to
their generation instead of exerting themselves for the liberation and
elevation of thought. However brilliant their temporary position, they
deserve, much more than the oblivious patriot, to go down
To the vile dust from whence they sprung,
Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.
[948] Grotius has made a large collection of those passages in
classical and other ancient writers, which seem to support the
creation-myth of Genesis; De Veritate Relig. Christ., i, 16. For the
Chaldaean or Babylonian variations, and some earlier associations of
Adam, see King’s Seven Tablets of Creation, Lond., 1903. It appears
that the protoplast in the original account was created by Marduk, the
tutelary deity of Babylonia, out of his own blood, a circumstance which
the “priestly” redactor of Genesis has suppressed, together with many
other interesting details; cf. Radau, Creation Story of Genesis i,
Chicago, 1903. Margoliouth’s attempt to show that Abraham’s Jehovah was
the male moon-god of Ur is interesting; Contemporary Review, 1896.
[949] In this country the subject of comparative mythology and the
origin of theistic notions has been exhaustively treated by Herbert
Spencer, Andrew Lang, J. G. Frazer, and others. Nevertheless, it
cannot be determined whether the fear of ghosts or the innate bent of
the human mind to speculate as to casuality is the germ of religious
systems. Their development has, no doubt, always been much indebted to
the ascendancy to be gained as the reward of successful imposture in
such matters.
[950] Avowed atheists were rare among the Greeks, as there was always
some personal risk in ventilating opinions which clashed with the
popular superstitions. Some, however, incurred the odium of holding
such views. Of these the most noteworthy was Diagoras, who is said to
have impiously chopped up his image of Hercules to boil his turnips;
Athenagoras, Apol., 4. The jaunty impiety of Dionysius, tyrant of
Syracuse (_c. 400_ B.C.), was celebrated in antiquity. After pillaging
the temple of the Locrian Proserpine, he sailed back home and, finding
the wind favourable, remarked to his companions, “See what a fine
passage the gods are granting to us sacrilegious reprobates.” He seized
the golden cloak from the shoulders of Jupiter Olympus, observing that
it was “too heavy for summer and too cold for winter, whereas a woollen
one would suit him well for all seasons.” Noticing a gold beard on
Æsculapius at Epidaurus, he removed it, saying, that it was “improper
for him to wear it, since his father, Apollo, was always represented
beardless.” Whenever in the temples he met with statues proffering,
as it were, jewels and plate with their projecting hands, he took
possession of the valuables, asserting that it “would be folly not to
accept the good things offered by the gods.” The pious were aghast at
the example of such a man enjoying a long and prosperous reign and
transmitting the throne to his son; Cicero, De Nat. Deor., iii, 34;
Lactantius, Div. Instit., ii, 4, etc. With a view to such instances,
Plutarch wrote a treatise to prove that “the mills of God grind slow,
but very sure.” Euhemerus and Palaephatus transformed mythology into
history by a rationalizing process, assigning the origin to popular
exaggeration of common occurrences.
[951] A system of verbal trickery originated with the Eleatics, of
which Zeno (_c. 400_ B.C.) was the chief exponent. Their catches were
generally ingenious; that disproving the reality of motion is best
known—“If a thing moves, it must do so in the place in which it is, or
in a place in which it is not; but it cannot move in the place in which
it is, and it certainly does not move in a place in which it is not;
therefore there is no motion at all;” Diogenes Laert., Pyrrho, 99, etc.
See Plato’s Euthydemus for a sample of ridiculous word-chopping.
[952] There were six principal sects which achieved a sort of
permanency and retained their vitality for several centuries. They may
be characterized briefly: Academics (Plato), sceptical and respectable;
Peripathetics (Aristotle), inquisitive and progressive; Stoics (Zeno
of Citium, Chrysippus), ethical and intense; Cynics (Antisthenes,
Diogenes), squalid, morose, and sententious; Epicureans, tranquil
enjoyment and indifference; Cyreneans (Aristippus), pure hedonism with
discretion. In general the Epicureans are wrongly associated with the
last conception.
[953] Aristotle (_c. 350_ B.C.) was the first to perceive the
importance of collecting facts and disposing them into their proper
groups. Thus zoology, botany, anatomy, physiology, mineralogy,
astronomy, meteorology, etc., began to take form in his hands, each
being relegated to a separate compartment for consideration as a
concordant whole and to receive future additions.
[954] Even with his limited outlook Aristotle had sufficient astuteness
to divine that nature might become the “slave of man,” and expresses
himself clearly to that effect; Metaphysics, i, 2. Such a claim may
provoke a smile from the modern who reviews the mild conquests of the
embryo science of his day.
[955] A few of their utterances may be quoted:
Ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμως Αἰδᾶο πύλησιν,
Ὅς χ’ ἕτερον μὲν κεύθῃ ἐνὶ φρεσὶν ἄλλο δὲ εἴπῃ.
_Iliad_, ix, 312.
Ἔργον δ’ οὐδὲν ὄνειδος, ἀεργίη δέ τ’ ὄνειδος.
_Op. et Dies_, 311.
Μὴ κακὰ κερδαίνειν, κακὰ κέρδεα ἷσ’ ἄτῃσιν.
_Ibid._, 352.
[956] From the Golden Verses of Pythagoras; Epictetus, iii, 10.
[957] Hence Socrates would not save his life by flight from Athens
after his condemnation, although his friends had made everything secure
for his escape; see the Crito.
[958] Plato, Gorgias, 55, etc.; Protagoras, 101, etc.
[959] Isocrates, Ad Nicoclem, 61. This maxim, in slightly differing
forms, has been attributed to Confucius and many others. Pythagoras
enjoined his disciples to love a friend as oneself; see Bigg, Christian
Platonists, London, 1886, p. 242. “Love your fellow men from your
heart,” says Marcus Aurelius, viii, 34.
[960] Cicero, De Officiis, iii, 8. In this treatise the author is for
the most part merely voicing the sentiments of the Stoic Panaetius.
[961] Epictetus, ii, 2.
[962] _Ibid._, i, 18.
[963] Marcus Aurelius, xii, 12.
[964] Seneca, Epist., 47; De Beneficiis, 18, etc. To a master who
ill-treats his servants Epictetus addresses himself: “Slave! can you
not be patient with your brother, the offspring of God and a son of
heaven as much as you are”; i, 13.
[965] Tuscul. Disp., ii, 17.
[966] Epist. 7.
[967] Lucian, Demonax.
[968] It was, however, prohibited early at Thebes; Aelian, Var. Hist.,
ii, 7.
[969] Pand., XXV, iii, 4; see Noodt’s Julius Paulus, etc., 1710.
Aristotle upheld the custom without scruple; Politics, viii, 16.
[970] Then Valentinian proscribed it with a penalty, but the
legislation was tentative, and the practice was scarcely suppressed
until modern times; Cod. Theod., V, vii; Cod., VIII, lii, 2; cf.
Lactantius, Div. Inst., vi, 20. It was palliated by the institution of
the brephotrophia; see p. 82.
[971] Odyssey, xx, 55.
[972] See Lysias, Orat., Ὑπερ τοῦ ἀδυνάτου, etc., Plutarch, Aristides
_ad fin._
[973] See p. 81.
[974] Trajan appears to have established orphanages and homes for the
children of needy parents; see Pliny, Panegyric., 27, etc. The fact is
also indicated by coins (ALIMENTA ITALIAE), and a sculptured slab found
in the Roman forum; Cohen, ii, p. 18; Middleton, Rome, etc., Lond.,
1892, p. 346. Faustina, wife of Antoninus Pius, also busied herself
in a similar way, as is evidenced by well-known coins (PUELLULAE
FAUSTINIANAE); Cohen, ii, p. 433.
[975] Isis and Serapis, after a stormy career which lasted more than a
century, became finally seated in the city under Vespasian; see “Isis”
in Smith’s Classical Dictionary and similar works. But the greatest run
was on Mithras, a sun-god extracted from the Persian mythology, who
grew in favour from the time of Pompey until his worship reached even
to the north of Britain. Quite a literature exists under his name at
present; see Cumont, Mysteries of Mithras, Lond., 1903. For the account
of a regular invasion of Syrian deities see Hist. August., Heliogabalus.
[976] Polybius complains of the rising scepticism at Rome in his time;
vi, 56. I need not reproduce the oft-quoted lines of Juvenal (ii, 149),
but the following are not generally brought forward:
Sunt, in fortunae qui casibus omnia ponunt,
Et nullo credant mundum rectore moveri, etc.
xiii, 86.
Such unbelief, however, did not penetrate beyond the upper social
stratum; and even at Athens in the second century those who scouted
the ancient myths were considered to be impious and senseless by the
multitude; see Lucian, Philopseudes, 2, etc. The voluminous dialogues
of Cicero are sufficient to prove how practised the Romans had become
in tearing the old mythology to pieces. But the pretence of piety was
kept up in the highest places. “The soul of Augustus is not in those
stones,” exclaimed Agrippina in a moment of vexation when she found
Tiberius sacrificing to the statues of his predecessor; Tacitus, Ann.,
iv, 52.
[977] There were many grades of charlatans from Apollonius of Tyana,
who seems to have been a genuine illusionist or mystic, to Alexander
Abonoteichos, an impudent impostor, and Marcus, an infamous rascal;
Philostratus, Vit. Apol.; Lucian, Pseudomantis; Irenaeus, i, 13.
[978] But he never left Rome and the duties were performed by Pomponius
Flaccus; Tacitus, Ann., ii, 32; vi, 27, etc. Jn. Malala mentions one
Cassius, p. 241.
[979] That is, sufferers from epilepsy, St. Vitus’s dance, mania,
etc., diseases which might be cured by hypnotic suggestion, neuroses
of various kinds. This popular fallacy was not held universally, but
was derided by the more educated, including the medical faculty; see
Philostorgius, viii, 10.
[980] Thus a century later, when a true messianic note was struck,
half a million of Jews rushed frantically to destruction in the wake
of Barcochebas, the leader of their revolt under Hadrian, though not
without the satisfaction of dragging 100,000 Gentiles to their doom
at the same time. Some exegetes are tempted to see in John, v, 4, an
allusion to this war, and hence to find a date for that gospel (the
bridge, via Philo Judaeus, between Judaeism and Hellenism), _c._ 140.
[981] Rufus (or Fufius) and Rubellius are probably meant; Lactantius,
De Morte Persec., 2. See the differing statements in the Chronicles
from Jn. Malala onwards; also articles on biblical chronology in recent
encyclopaedias, Chron. of Eusebius, Consular Fasti appended to Chron.
Paschal., etc. By the synoptical gospels the ministry of Jesus seems
to have lasted one year only, but two, three, and even four years have
been assumed from the later composition of John, _e.g._, in Jerome’s
chronicle, _sb._ A.D. 33.
[982] It is, however, improbable that any Christian could have given a
consecutive account of the life of Jesus prior to 120 or thereabouts.
The newly-discovered Apology of Aristides seems to be the earliest
evidence for the existence of gospels. It was presented to Hadrian,
perhaps, _c._ 125. On the other hand First Clement, moored at 95, but
with an incorrigible tendency to rise to 140, is clearly by a writer
who possessed no biography, but merely Logia of Jesus.
[983] They were coated with inflammable matter, pitch, etc., and used
for torches to illuminate the public gardens at night (Nov., 64);
Tacitus, Ann., xv, 44; Suetonius, Nero, 16, etc.
[984] Dion Cass., lxvii, 14; Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., iii, 18, _et
seq._; cf. Lactantius, De Morte Persec., 3; Suetonius, Domitian.
Clement, a cousin of this emperor, appears to have been put to death
for being a Christian, and has been claimed by some as one of the first
popes.
[985] Pliny, Epist., x, 97, 98. This correspondence and, indeed, the
whole book which contains it has been stigmatized as a forgery by some
investigators; see Gieseler, Eccles. Hist., i, 33, for refs. The same
suspicion rests, in fact, on every early allusion to the Christians. It
certainly seems strange that they should be such unfamiliar sectaries
to Trajan and Pliny if they were well known at Rome under Nero and
Domitian. Much less can we believe that in the destruction of Jerusalem
Titus was actuated chiefly by a desire to extinguish Christianity,
or that he had weighed the differences in theological standpoint
between Jews and Christians; Sulp. Severus, Hist. Sacr., ii, 30. Such
is history “as she was wrote” at that epoch. The whole evidence that
Christians were popularly known and recognized politically during the
first century is scanty and unsatisfactory. Trajan achieved a great
reputation, which never died out even among the Christians, perhaps on
account of the tolerant attitude attributed to him on this occasion. He
was prayed out of hell by one of the popes along with one or two other
noted pagans whom the Church was anxious to take under its wing.
Quivi era storiata l’alta gloria
Del roman prince, lo cui gran valore
Mosse Gregorio alia sua gran vittoria:
Io dico di Traiano imperadore; etc.
Dante, Purg., x; Parad., xx.
[986] Hence the anti-Christian philosopher Celsus (_c._ 160) exclaims:
“You say that no educated, wise or intellectual person need approach
you, but only those that are ignorant, silly, and childish. In fact you
are able to persuade the vulgar only, slaves, women, and children”;
Origen c. Celsum, iii, 44.
[987] Minucius Felix, Octavius, 12, etc. Their gloomy austerity is
strongly brought out by Tertullian in his tract De Spectaculis.
[988] Tertullian, De Idololatria, 17, _et seq._; De Corona Militis, 11;
Origen c. Celsum, viii, 55, 60, _et seq._ Not only did they refuse the
quasi-divine honours to the Emperor, but they would not even join in
the illumination and floral decoration of their houses required of all
loyal citizens during imperial festivals; Tertullian, De Idololatria,
13, _et seq._; Ad Nationes, i, 17; Theophilus, Autolycus, i, 11,
etc. The causes of the unpopularity of the Christians can be studied
very completely with the aid of Gieseler (Eccles. Hist., i, 41), who
has brought together numerous extracts and references bearing on the
subject. As was natural under the circumstances, atrocious libels began
to be spread abroad against them, such as that they worshipped an
ass’s head, that the sacrifice of new-born infants was a part of their
ritual, etc.; Tertullian, Apology, 16; Minucius Felix, 9, etc.
[989] Origen c. Celsum, viii, the latter half especially. As early as
500 B.C. Xenophanes had said “God is the One,” but this was recondite
philosophy which could not penetrate to the masses, and, if preached
openly, would have aroused popular fanaticism; Aristotle, Metaphysics,
i, 5.
[990] The prohibitive campaign was almost confined to Lyons and Vienne
in Gaul; Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., v, 1, _et seq._ The animus against
the Christians was so intense that slaves were even allowed to inform
on their owners, ordinarily a criminal act; Pand., XLVIII, xviii, 1,
18, etc. The Acts of the Martyrdom of Polycarp (_c._ 155-161), after
holding their ground so long, are now at last beginning to be classed
as spurious; see Van Manen in Encyclop. Biblica, _sb._ Old Christ.
Literat.
[991] See Tertullian’s Address to the Martyrs; also Cyprian’s
restrained efforts to modify the reverence paid to them; Epist., 22,
83, etc.; cf. Eusebius, Martyrs of Palestine; Lactantius, De Morte
Persec.; Neander, Church Hist., ii.
[992] Ten persecutions were reckoned by those who wished to make up
a mystic number to accord with the ten plagues of Egypt, Revelat.,
xvii, etc., but the specification of them does not correspond in
different writers. After a certain date, which cannot be accurately
fixed, there was always local animosity against the sect, the practical
issue of which varied relatively to the temper of the populace and the
provincial governor; see Gieseler, i, 56.
[993] Lactantius, De Morte Persec., 48; Eusebius, Eccles. Hist., x, 5.
Advanced critics, however, are now beginning to doubt the authenticity
of this decree as presented by the Fathers of the Church; see Seeck,
Gesch. d. Untergangs d. antiken Welt, 1895, ii, pp. 457, 460.
[994] At present it appears that some nourish a hope of the reality of
miracles being still believed in by supposing them to have occurred as
an “extension of the natural.” In this way it may become credible that
cartloads of baked bread and cooked fish—vertebrate animals with all
their physiological parts—suddenly sprang into existence out of the
air. A travesty of the ridiculous, not an extension of the natural, is
the more proper description of such assumptions. Natural phenomena,
observed, but so far ill understood, lie in quite a different plane
from contradictions of natural law in which consists the essence of
legendary miracles.
[995] The more timorous critics still cling to one or two of the
Epistles grouped together under the name of St. Paul, but the
advanced school has decided to reject them in their entirety; see Van
Manen, Encycl. Biblica, _sb._ “Paul.” I may exemplify the general
discrepancy of views still prevailing in this field of research by
a single illustration: “It has now been established that the latter
(Epistles of Ignatius) are genuine”; Encycl. Britan., _sb._ “Gospels”
and “Ignatius”: “certainly not by Ignatius”; Encycl. Biblica, _sb._
“Old Christ. Lit.” Such opposing statements will continue to be put
forward as long as we have Faculties of Divinity at Universities
filled by scholars who are constrained to treat historical questions
in conformity with the requirements of an established ministry; and so
long shall we be edified by the spectacle of men engaged in balancing
truth and error in such a manner as to pretend not to be refuting the
latter, so that in perusing their treatises we must either suspect
their candour or distrust their judgement. Yet in not a few instances
the men may be observed exulting amid the ruins of the fortress which
they had entered to hold as an invincible garrison.
[996] A. D. Loman decided in 1881 that Jesus had not been a real
personage, but he now thinks he went too far; Encycl. Biblica,
_sb._ “Resurrection.” Edwin Johnson, author of _Antiqua Mater_,
1887, has marshalled the evidence against his existence very fully
and fairly, but in some of his later work he has gone too far, and
such exaggerated scepticism, while it may often amuse, can scarcely
succeed in convincing. Jn. M. Robertson, author of A Short History of
Christianity, 1902, and previous works of some magnitude from similar
studies, argues on the same side. Havet says, “Sa trace dans l’histoire
est pour ainsi dire imperceptible”; Le Christianisme, iii, 1878, p.
493. Bruno Brauer concludes that “the historic Jesus becomes a phantom
which mocks all the laws of history”; Kritik d. evang. Geschichte,
1842, iii, p. 308; see also Frazer’s Golden Bough, 1900, iii, p. 186,
_et seq._ Disregarding the Gospels, a form of narrative which could not
be accepted by us as historical in connection with any other religion,
the slight allusions to Jesus in known writers (Josephus, Tacitus,
Suetonius), are evidently mere hearsay derived from the Christians
themselves. Hegesippus, a lost church historian (_c._ 170), gives
some details as to the death of “James, the brother of the Lord,” and
also states that some poor labourers of Judaea, for whom a descent
from the Holy Family was claimed, were brought before Domitian and
dismissed as of no account; fragments in Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., iii,
20. Remarkable is the silence, in his voluminous writings, of Philo
Judaeus, a philosophico-theological Jew of Alexandria, a prominent
citizen, and a man of middle age at the time of the Crucifixion.
So close to the scene itself he could scarcely have failed to have
heard of any popular agitation centring round a Messiah at Jerusalem.
When Augustus was told that Herod had executed two of his sons he
observed that “it was better to be Herod’s pig than his son.” In
ignorant repetition at a later date this remark was construed into an
allusion to the slaughter of the innocents; Macrobius, ii, 4. Several
(non-extant) Jewish historians, Justus Tiberiensis for example, made
no mention of Jesus. Still worse is the case for the Apostles; they
are not noticed outside the N. T. unless in Acts conceded on all
hands to be apocryphal. Most singular is it that no descendants of
theirs were ever known. Towards the middle of the second century when
the Christians loom into view as a compact body of co-religionists
we should assuredly expect to find relations of the Apostles, direct
or collateral, moving with extraordinary prestige among the Saints
on earth. But, beyond a vague allusion to two daughters of Philip
(Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., iii, 39), there is no trace of any such
individuals. The descendants of Mahomet alone were numerous a century
after his death, but the Twelve proved as barren of progeny as if they
had never existed. With respect to the canon of the N. T. it is known
that it was formed almost as at present before the third century, a
great many similar works being put aside as apocryphal or unsuitable.
Those selected were altered to some extent to meet the requirements of
doctrine; Origen c. Celsum, ii, 27; Dionysius of Corinth in Eusebius,
_op. cit._, iv, 23, etc. They were, in fact, edited from time to
time in the interests of orthodoxy or heresy, interchangeable terms,
as is shown by Origen, Epiphanius, and Jerome; see Nestle’s Textual
Criticism, Lond., 1899. Much of the Apocrypha remains to this day,
including circumstantial accounts of the childhood of Jesus; see
Clark’s Ante-Nicene Library, in which Tatian’s Diatessaron (_c._ 170,
an Arabic version only remains), shows the absence of texts now found
in the Gospels, especially that relating to the Church being founded
on a rock (Peter). The striking likeness between the legend of Buddha
(_c._ 500 B.C.), and the life of Jesus has been set forth by several
Orientalists; see Seydel, Die Buddha-Legende und das Leben Jesu, 1884.
The resemblance to early Egyptian folklore may be seen in Griffith’s
High Priests of Memphis (story of Khammuas), 1900 (from recent demotic
papyri). Some interesting questions are raised in Mead’s Did Jesus
Live 100 B.C.? (on Talmudic legends or libels). It must be borne in
mind that scarcely a MS. of a classical author (excepting some scraps
recently recovered in Egypt) exists, which has not passed the pen of
monkish copyists. Hardouin taxes them with having forged nearly all
patristic literature, both Greek and Latin. They had, he says, suitable
materials for various ages, parchments, inks, etc., and executants
who practised various styles of writing. In recording his conclusions
he deprecates the accusation of insanity. Such is the deliberate
verdict of a Roman Cardinal whose learning is indisputable, and whose
discrimination in other matters has not been impugned; Ad Censur.
Vet. Script. Prolegomena, Lond., 1766. At any rate the acknowledged
forgeries make up an enormous bulk, Gospels, Acts, Epistles, laws,
decretals, etc. It seems scarcely possible that the question as to the
existence of Jesus and the Twelve can ever be definitely disposed of;
and it must take its place beside such problems as to whether there
was ever a Siege of Troy, a King Arthur, etc. In the cases of Pope
Joan and William Tell, local and contemporary records were obtainable
sufficiently comprehensive to prove a negative; but no evidence is
likely to come to hand close enough to exclude the credible details of
the Gospel narrative from the possible occurrences at Jerusalem during
the period. The English reader now possesses in the Encyclopaedia
Biblica, a repertory in which Biblical investigations are treated in
a manner as free from bias and obscurantism as is attainable at the
present time. Such a work has long been needed in English literature,
and marks a national advance. But much more remains to be done, and
within a score or two of years we may see such discussions take up a
stable position between the advanced critics who still feel obliged to
entertain some illogical propositions, and the rather wild free-lances
who would dissipate all marvel-tainted evidence by their uncompromising
scepticism, in which they sometimes do more harm than good by their
disregard of critical sanity. By that time a liberal application of the
critic’s broom will have swept many documents now held up to public
respect into the limbo to which they properly belong.
[997] Previous to the overthrow of Biblical and other ancient
cosmogonies by the extension of natural knowledge the historic inquiry
as to the truth of supernatural religion was paramount. As recently as
the fifties of the last century a sceptic, if asked to give reasons for
his disbelief, might have answered that it was due to the absence of
witnesses of known position and integrity to attest the occurrences;
and that if such evidence were forthcoming he should certainly consider
that Christianity rested on foundations which could never be shaken.
Let us see whether it is in our power to prove that if a religion
based on miracles could pass such an ordeal it would not necessarily
even then hold an impregnable position. In 1848 certain phenomena,
termed the “Rochester knockings,” occurring at a place in New England,
impelled a wave of credulity as to spiritual manifestations throughout
Christendom, which has not wholly subsided up to the present date.
Prof. Robt. Hare, an eminent chemist and electrician, was attracted to
investigate the matter with the firm intention of exposing the folly.
But he became convinced instead, and by the aid of a lady who could
produce “raps,” apparently unconnected with her person, he devised a
code of signals from which resulted a couple of bulky volumes devoted
by the professor to explicit details of the doings in, and the beauties
of, the spirit-land, the whole recounted by deceased relations of his
own; Spiritualism Scientifically Demonstrated, New York, 1855. But the
spirits did not for long restrict themselves to merely audible signs;
they responded generously to the attention paid to them and soon began
to reveal their hands, faces, and even their whole persons for physical
observation, often pelting the audience with flowers, presenting them
with bouquets, and showing themselves to be accomplished musicians
in the negro mode by performances on unseen instruments. Although
their deeds were never dark, yet they always insisted on darkness as
indispensable for the perpetration of them. In 1852, after the craze
reached England, many men of academical and scientific repute observed
and attested incredible phenomena, of which Prof. Challis of Cambridge
said that, if the statements had to be rejected, “the possibility of
ascertaining facts by human testimony must be given up.” Mr. A. R.
Wallace, the congener of Darwin, became a convert, and bore witness to
the miracles of Mrs. Guppy, her floral materializations, etc.; Modern
Miracles and Spiritualism, 1874, etc. (I cannot omit to mention that
this author, at one time at least, was an anti-vaccinationist). Sir
W. Crookes, the celebrated scientist, had séances in his own house,
where he walked and talked with a young lady from the Orient, dead
a century before, subjected her to a quasi-medical examination, and
possessed himself of a lock of her hair; Researches on the Phenomena
of Spiritualism, 1870. The professors of Leipzig University received
the celebrated medium, Dr. Slade, in their private study on several
occasions, when he satisfied them of his ability to perform the
impossible by producing untieable knots, passing matter through matter,
and causing writing to appear on slates from invisible correspondents;
Transcendental Physics, by Prof. Zöllner, Lond., 1883. Other observers
who upheld the reality of spiritual achievements are Sir R. Burton,
Mr. Cromwell Varley, F.R.S., Dr. Lockhart Robinson, Lord Lindsay, etc.
The list of veracious witnesses is, in fact, a long one and a weighty.
Yet all these eminent men have been deceived by cunning impostors.
See the Reports of the Societies for Psychical Research, English and
American, which have been issued regularly for nearly twenty years.
Hallucinations, ghost-stories, and hypnosis have been exhaustively
investigated, but no spirits have ventured to materialize themselves
whenever conclusive tests were insisted on. At the most it has been
demonstrated that telepathy, a kind of wireless telegraphy between
brain and brain, may occur under favourable but rare conditions.
Whenever trickery was excluded the pretended mediums were invariably
unsuccessful. The redoubtable Dr. Slade, when he found that dupes
failed him, retired from the profession, and shortly after, on meeting
a friend who challenged him, replied, “you never believed in the
old spirits, did you?” The absurdities which were effective among
the credulous when their superstitions were appealed to were often
a ludicrous feature. A stone picked up by the wayside and ejected
adroitly from the medium’s pocket during a dance is looked upon as a
supernatural occurrence. See Truesdell’s ridiculous exposure of Slade
and other charlatans of that class; Bottom Facts of Spiritualism,
N.Y., 1883. The career of an English impostor has been unveiled
throughout by a confederate in Confessions of a Medium, Lond., 1882.
The literature on both sides is very large and is still accumulating.
Several spiritual journals are published with the support of thousands
of believers in Europe and America, etc. This modern illustration
teaches us very conclusively: (1) That had the Gospels come down to us
as the acknowledged writings of some of the best known and trustworthy
men of antiquity, their contents would still have to be discredited
as originating in fraud or illusion: (2) That devotion to a branch of
science, or even to science generally, is not essentially productive
of any critical insight into matters theological or professedly
supernatural: (3) That phenomena of cerebration, normal, aberrant, and
perhaps supranormal (exalted sensitiveness), may easily be utilized
for purposes of imposture; and are a proper subject for methodized
psychical study. Since a contemporary religion, supported by a mass of
direct and definite evidence thus collapses before a strict scrutiny,
we must ask what truth could reside in those generated in the womb of
Oriental mysticism, for which no solid foundations can be perceived?
When we see that even scientists do not always succeed in persuading
themselves that nothing is credible but fact, _quod semper, quod
ubique, quod omnibus demonstrabile sit_, how little reliance can be
placed on popular reports and unauthentic tracts. Even if we had not
spiritualism to hand, a practically similar lesson might be taught from
a consideration of Shakerism, Mormonism, Harris’s Brotherhood of the
New Life, the Zion Restoration Host, with its reincarnated Elijah, etc.
See Oxley’s Modern Messiahs, 1889, for many interesting details as to
popular illusionists who have assumed the prophet’s mantle.
[998] Timaeus, 9, _et seq._ Plato is not here inventing, but for the
most part merely co-ordinating previous notions, especially those
of the philosopher whose name is affixed to the dialogue. Reference
to some other dialogues is necessary to complete the picture of his
religion and theology.
[999] Parmenides; Republic, vi, 19; Plotinus, Enneads, vi, 9.
[1000] That is fire, air, water, and earth; not our chemical elements.
[1001] The original (?) Trinity here invented consists of: 1. The
ποιητής, πατήρ, or δημιουργός. 2. Νοῦς. 3. Ψυχή. From the spurious
Epinomis Νοῦς may be equaled with Λόγος.
[1002] Phaedo, 19, 25, etc.
[1003] Thus the period of eclecticism was entered on, for an account of
which see Zeller’s Eclectics, Lond., 1883. It began about the age of
Cicero, but a definite system did not crystallize out of it till the
time I am treating of.
[1004] Born at Lycopolis in 205; died in Campania, 270.
[1005] There was no creed in Neoplatonism, and, therefore, what was
believed has to be deduced from a study of the Enneads of Plotinus,
so-called as consisting of a series of books, six in all, each
containing nine treatises. The logical germ of the conception is that
the One emits continually the Nous or intelligence; and the latter the
Soul. The Soul animates the world, but becomes lost should it allow
itself to coalesce with matter by yielding to sin. The subject has been
treated exhaustively by Vacherot, L’école d’Alexandrie, Paris, 1846;
and by Zeller, Philosophie der Griechen, iii, Leipzig, 1881. Neither
of these works has been translated, but there is an excellent summary
by Bigg (Neoplatonism, Lond., 1892), who has dealt with some phases of
the movement at length in his Christian Platonists of Alexandria, 1886.
According to Bigg’s expression, the Christian Father, Clement Alex.
(_c._ 190), “separated the thinker from the thought, and thus founded
Neoplatonism.” Numenius, who was, perhaps, a Jew, made some advances
in the definition of the Platonic trinity; and Plotinus was accused of
borrowing from him; see Bigg’s latter work, pp. 64, 250, etc. Ammonius
Saccas, a porter of Alexandria, was the teacher of Plotinus, and is
considered to be the immediate begetter of Neoplatonism.
[1006] Philo Judaeus (_c._ 20) is the first known to have taught this
doctrine of ecstasy, but it is not certain that the Neoplatonists
utilized his works. He also was the first to corrupt the rigid
monotheism of the Jews by assuming the Platonic (?) Logos as a
necessary mediator between Jehovah and the world; see Harnack, History
of Dogma, Lond., 1892, i, p. 115, etc.; also Bigg as above, and the
Histories of Philosophy by Zeller, Ueberweg, etc.
[1007] The details of the life of Plotinus are due to Porphyry, who
gives the most succinct account of his doctrine, and describes his
excursions into the higher sphere by means of self-hypnosis. The whole
field of modern spiritualism seems to have been cultivated by the
Neoplatonists, and, indeed, by other mystics long before; allusions
by Plotinus himself will be found in Enneads, v, 9; vi, 7; iii, 8,
etc. Porphyry relates that during the six years of his intimacy with
him, his master attained to ecstatic union on four occasions. It will
be seen, therefore, that Plotinus was very abstemious in indulging in
such a luxury; he would have much to learn from modern improvements
under which Mrs. Piper and other trance-mediums enter the vacuous realm
regularly day by day; see the Psychical Society’s Reports; cf. Bigg,
Christian Platonists, etc., p. 248; also Myers’ Classical Essays, 1883,
p. 83, _et seq._
[1008] “Only the cultured,” he remarks, “can aspire to the summit
and upwards; as for the vulgar crowd, they are bound down to common
necessaries”; Enneads, II, ix, 9.
[1009] The Stoics began this allegorizing of the ancient books; see
Zeller (Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics, Lond., 1892) for an account
of their conceits. Philo Judaeus performed a similar service for
the Pentateuch, of which the Jews do not seem to have believed much
literally in his day; nor, in fact, did the early Christian Fathers;
see Origen, Comment. in Genesim, etc. He notices, amongst other things,
the difficulty which arises from the production of light before the
sun was created; Gen., i, 3, 16. Porphyry’s treatise on the Cave of
the Nymphs (Odyssey, xiii, 102) remains to show the method of exegesis
adopted by the Neoplatonists in order to demonstrate the divine
inspiration of the old Greek poets. Kingsley’s novel, “Hypatia,” gives
a good picture of Neoplatonism in some of its popular aspects.
[1010] A treatise emanating from the school of Iamblichus is extant,
viz., The Mysteries of the Egyptians, an exposition supposed to be
written by Abamon in answer to a sceptical letter from Porphyry to
Anebo, assumed characters apparently. It includes a whole system of
Neoplatonic magic and theurgy, and describes the various appearances
of daemonic phantasms with the accuracy of one accustomed to be
familiarly associated with them. Objectively the series descends from
the celestial light which defines the personality of a god to a turbid
fire indicative of the form of a lower daemon, perhaps of malignant
propensities. There is a recent edition of this work in English,
probably a venture addressed to spiritualistic circles.
[1011] Irenaeus, i, 23; Hippolytus, vi, 7, etc. His contests with St.
Peter were a favourite subject in early Christian literature; see
Ordericus Vitalis (ii, 2), who has extracted some amusing incidents
as to their rivalry at Rome, etc. In the Clementine Homilies and
Recognitions, which form a kind of religious novel, at the time put
forward as genuine, he fills the stage as the villain of the piece,
but is considered to be merely a pseudonym for St. Paul, a name which
typified a policy to which the author of the composition was opposed.
See the article on Simon in any comprehensive encyclopaedia of recent
date.
[1012] Mansel’s Gnostic Heresies (1875) supersedes to a great
extent the larger treatises of Matter and others, as it embodies a
discussion of details more recently derived from Hippolytus, etc.
Their sects increased rapidly in number, from the thirty-seven dealt
with by Irenaeus (_c._ 185), to the eighty refuted by Epiphanius
(_c._ 350). There were two main schools of Gnostics, the Syrian and
the Alexandrian. The former was frankly dualistic, but the Egyptian
assimilated Buddhistic notions, which saw in matter the essence of
evil; only, however, when vitalized by the celestial emanations after
they had become impoverished, as the result of their descent to an
infinite distance from the throne of light. In general the attitude
of Gnostics towards Christianity was rejection of the Jewish creator
as an evil demiurge, and the acceptance of Jesus as an emissary from
the god of love to rescue the world from sin and darkness. Their
Christology was docetic; that is, the Saviour was merely a phantom who
appeared suddenly on the banks of the Jordan, in the semblance of a man
of mature age. Their greatest leader, though not a pure Gnostic, was
Marcion of Pontus. His bible consisted of the Pauline Epistles, and
a Gospel said to be Luke mutilated, but more justly recognized as an
independent redaction of the primitive tradition. Marcion’s Jesus said,
“I come not to fulfil the law, but to destroy it”; see Tertullian, Adv.
Marcion, iv, 7, 9. The modern Christian might imagine that his faith is
dualistic, owing to the power and prominence given to the devil, but
such a view would be inexpiable heresy. Satan and his crew are merely
rebellious angels, whose relations to Jehovah are similar to that of
sinful men in general, so much so that some of the Fathers in the early
Church held that Christ would descend into Hell to be crucified there a
second time for the salvation of devils; see Origen, De Principiis, I,
vi, 2, 3; Labbe, Concil. (1759), ix, 533, can. 7, etc.
[1013] Unless it should be maintained that Christianity germinated in
Gnostic soil, the most vigorous growth which overshadowed and in the
end annihilated its weaker associates, a not untenable hypothesis.
[1014] The two portly folios devoted to the history of Manichaeism
(Amst., 1734), by Beausobre, must now be supplemented by more recent,
though less extensive, works, owing to the activity of modern scholars
among Oriental sources. St. Augustine was a Manichaean for eight years,
and the most reliable details are to be collected from his writings
after he became a Christian, and issued diatribes against his former
teachers. Socrates gives a short life of Mani, fabulous in great part
most likely; i, 22; the latest researches are those of Kessler. The
best summary will be found in Harnack, Hist. of Dogma, iii, p. 317, to
which is appended a bibliography of the subject.
[1015] An old Persian notion; see Xenophon, Cyropaedia, vi, 1.
[1016] “Not the devilish Messiah of the Jews, but a contemporaneous
phantom Jesus, who neither suffered nor died”; Harnack, Encycl. Brit.,
_sb._ “Manichaeism.”
[1017] The text of his edict, with references to the sources, is given
by Gieseler, Hist. Eccles., i, 61. The enactment, however, is regarded
with suspicion, and is never mentioned unless accompanied by a query as
to its genuineness. See also Haenel, Cod. Theod., 44^*.
[1018] See the laws against mathematicians, etc., for so were sorcerers
and witches designated at the time, from the Antonines onwards; Cod.
Theod., IX, xvi; Cod., IX, xviii.
[1019] As Harnack remarks (_loc. cit._), it commended itself
successfully to the partly Semitic inhabitants of North Africa, among
whom was Augustine. But it permeated Europe as well, and in a more
Christianized form flourished among such comparatively modern sects as
the Cathari, Albigenses, Bogomils, etc. Its fate in these quarters is
traced out by Gieseler and other church historians. But the Manichaean
pedigree of these sects is not now accepted so freely as formerly; see
Bury’s Gibbon, vi, p. 543. At one time all heretics were stigmatized as
Manichaeans in the vituperation of the orthodox, especially when their
views approached the docetism held by all Gnostics, as in the case of
the Monophysites; Labbe, Concil., v, 147, etc.
[1020] Justin. Apol., i, 11; Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., v, 16; see
Gieseler, _op. cit._, i, 41, 48, etc. The belief in the Millennium
was, doubtless, the most potent influence in segregating the first
Christians from their fellow subjects. It was conceived by some that as
the world was created in six days it would last for six thousand years,
and the seventh thousand would be distinguished by the reign of Christ
on earth; see the Church Histories and Harnack’s article “Millennium,”
in Encycl. Brit., etc. As the chronology was uncertain the critical
transition might be revealed at any moment. Christian writers now began
to date from the creation of the world as per Genesis; some made it
about 5500 B.C., so that the Millennium should have been entered on
during the reign of Anastasius. But according to others it should have
begun under Nero or Trajan. Michael Melit. (Langlois); Jn. Malala, p.
428, etc.
[1021] See Apostolical Constit., ii, 25; Hatch, Early Church, pp. 40,
69, etc. The Emperor Julian was rather exasperated at finding that
the Christians took the wind out of his sails by their indiscriminate
charity, and so cultivated the good will of all the lower classes;
Epist. (frag.), p. 391 (H). He seems to be addressing some Pagan priest.
[1022] See The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, 11, _et seq._;
Gieseler, _op. cit._, i, 30. It is uncertain whether the first
assemblies were convened after the pattern of the Jewish synagogue
or the guild meetings of the Empire; probably after one or the other
according to local affinity.
[1023] It may be imagined that this transformation was not effected
without a conflict when parties with opposed views found themselves
at the parting of the ways. This rupture was called Montanism, from
Montanus, a Phrygian who, with two “prophetesses,” proclaimed a renewal
of the original dispensation. The movement spread to the West, where
the celebrated Tertullian became one of its most ardent advocates. See
Gieseler, _op. cit._, i, 48, etc., or Harnack in Encycl. Brit., _sb.
nom._
[1024] Origen c. Celsum, iii, 9.
[1025] Some details of the catechetical course are known. The
student was first taken through the “science” of the period until,
like Socrates, he found that he knew nothing. Then the current of
Jewish-Christian legend and mythology was allowed to flow, and
everything was lighted up instantly as by an electric illumination;
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Panegyr. in Origen, 5, _et seq._ Almost the
strongest argument the Fathers found for the acceptance of their
creed was the failure of Greek philosophical speculation to explain
the universe. Many of them dwell at great length on this subject; see
Tatian, Athenagoras, Lactantius, etc. One of the best summaries of
ancient metaphysics is given by Hippolytus in his first book against
heresies. But Clement and Origen were more concerned to correlate
the two, thinking there was something divine in both. Eusebius is on
similar ground in his Praep. Evang., etc.
[1026] As late as 160, or so, the Christians were taunted with having
no visible places of worship; Origen c. Celsum, viii, 17, 19, etc.;
Minucius Felix, 10. About a century later the handsome churches began
to be erected; Apostolic Constit., ii, 57; Eusebius, Hist. Eccles.,
viii, 1; x, 4, etc. An inventory of the actual contents of a church at
Cirta, in N. Africa, _c._ 300, is extant; Routh, Reliquiae Sacrae, ii,
p. 100.
[1027] See the account of Hierocles, the hostile proconsul, in
Lactantius, Div. Inst., v, 2; De Morte Persec., 16. He and the Emperor
Galerius appear to have been the prime movers of the Diocletian
persecution in 303; cf. Eusebius, _op. cit._, viii, 2, etc. After
several years, however, Galerius found the task of stamping out
Christianity beyond him, and issued an edict of toleration. Hence there
was really no call for Constantine to legislate anew. This Hierocles
was one of those who set up the idealized Apollonius of Tyana as an
avatar of the Deity, and tried to exalt him as an object of adoration
above Jesus. But the attempt failed; Apollonius was a real personage
with a familiar name; Jesus was a dream; see the controversial tract of
Eusebius against Hierocles.
[1028] Cod. Theod., XVI, vii, 1; x, 1, 7, etc., and Godefroy _ad
loc._ About this time (380) Gratian discarded the dignity of Pontifex
Maximus, which the previous Christian emperors had continued to assume;
Zosimus, iv, 36.
[1029] A civil war was opened throughout the East by many bishops, who
proceeded to demolish the temples at the head of gangs of monks and
other enthusiasts. On both sides infuriated mobs fought zealously for
their religion, and much slaughter resulted. The most violent commotion
was occasioned by the destruction of the great temple of Serapis at
Alexandria (389); see the ecclesiastical historians: Socrates, v, 16;
Sozomen, vii, 15; Theodoret, v, 21, etc. Such doings became official
under Arcadius; Cod. Theod., XVI, x, 16 (399); cf. Gieseler, i, 79.
[1030] In 367 Damasus and Ursinus fought a battle in one of the Roman
churches for the papal seal; 137 corpses were removed next day from the
pavement of the sacred edifice. “I am not surprised at the contention,”
says Ammianus, “when I consider the splendour of the dignity. The
successful aspirant is enriched by the offerings of matrons, rolls
about in his chariot sumptuously apparelled, and surpasses the
profusion of royalty in his banquets”; xxvii, 3. As the Vicar of God,
bishops professed to stand above temporal princes; Apostol. Constit.,
ii, 34. The Bishop of Tripolis declared to the Empress Eusebia (_c._
350) that he would not visit her unless she descended from the throne
to meet him, kissed his hands, and waited his permission to reseat
herself after he had sat down, etc.; Suidas, _sb._ Λεόντιος. St. Martin
of Tours (_c._ 370) was waited on at table by the Empress; he handed
the cup to his chaplain, thus giving him precedence over the Emperor;
Sulp. Severus, Vita St. M., 20; Dial., ii, 6. See further Gieseler,
_op. cit._, i, 91.
[1031] See the original church historians. Theodoret’s account is the
most definite and satisfactory; i, 2, _et seq._ Recently Arianism has
been treated by Gwatkin in a separate work. Harnack’s exposition of
it is, as usual, most lucid and interesting; Hist. Dogma, iv. This is
the great controversy in which the celebrated words _Homoousios_ and
_Homoiousios_ were combined to distinguish the contending theories:
D’une syllabe impie un saint mot augmenté
Remplit tous les esprits d’aigreurs si meurtrières,
Et fit de sang chrétien couler tant de rivières, etc.
Boileau, Sat. xii.
_Homoean_ and _Anomoean_ denote Arian sub-sects who differed more or
less from orthodoxy. In fact, the Arian heresy has never really died
out, and is now represented by Unitarianism.
[1032] “Tradendi ratio sicca est, memoriaeque potius, quam
intelligentiae accommodata”; Mosheim, Eccles. Hist., IX, ii, 3. The
first great theological debates concerned the mutual relations of the
persons of the Trinity in their celestial abode; and were decided
against those who confounded the persons (Sabellians, Monarchians) or
divided the substance (Arians). Such momentous matters being settled
as finally registered in the so-called Athanasian Creed, the Fathers
descended to earth and busied themselves in analyzing the mystic
conjunction of the Godhead with the flesh, viz., the Incarnation of
Jesus. These controversies were determined by the ejection from the
fold of Orthodoxy of those who maintained the existence of but one
nature or one will in the God-man (Monophysites, Monotheletes), and
also of a small party who propounded the incorruptibility of the body
of Jesus (Aphthartodocetae). The erection of this fabric of dogma was
essential to Orthodoxy, the underlying conception of which was that God
became man so that man might become God; ii Clement, 9; cf. Bigg, _op.
cit._, p. 71. Hence if the Saviour were made out to be merely a sham
human being the whole scheme of redemption must fall through at once.
The last step led them to consult about the mundane relatives of Jesus,
and ended in the dogma that Mary’s was an asexual birth, the Immaculate
Conception, and that, as she could never have been sullied by any
carnal conversation, the brothers of Jesus, as represented, must merely
have been his cousins. But the Church did not approach some of these
latter considerations till a later age.
[1033] His laws have already been referred to. For the result as
represented by an educated Pagan, see Libanius, De Templis. This
Council enacted that the Bishop of CP. should hold the next rank to
the Roman Pontiff; Socrates, v, 8 (Concil., can. 3). About this time
the title of Patriarch began to be restricted to the higher bishops;
_ibid._ Constantine’s pagan temples at CP. were now ruined; Jn. Malala,
p. 345.
[1034] The chief source for the Council of Chalcedon is Evagrius, ii,
1, _et seq._ By Canon 21 the equality of the Byzantine Patriarch with
the Pope was affirmed; Labbe, Concil., vii, 369; cf. Cod. Theod., XVI,
ii, 45, etc.
[1035] Evagrius, iii, 13, _et seq._ It was composed by Acacius, the
Patriarch of the capital.
[1036] See pp. 104, 180. To the Monophysites, Anastasius is, of course,
“the pious and orthodox Emperor”: see John of Nikiu (Zotenberg);
Zachariah of Mytilene (Hamilton), etc.
[1037] Cod., I, v, 12; Codinus, p. 72; Procopius, De Aedific, i, 4. See
Ducange, CP. Christ., _sb. nom._, for a collection of passages relating
to St. Mocius.
[1038] In 423 Theodosius II considered that Paganism was virtually
extinct, so little in evidence were those who still adhered to the old
religion; Cod. Theod., XVI, x, 22. But subsequent events proved that
his confidence was premature. I have anticipated the use of the word
“Pagan” (_paganus_, rustic, villager) as a term of reproach to those
who had not been illuminated by Christianity. In this sense it is first
found in a law of Valentinian I: Cod. Theod., XVI, ii, 18 (365). It
arose at a time when the urban population exhibited a sharp contrast to
the country people in the matter of religion. Long after the former had
been converted _en masse_, polytheism lingered in the rural districts,
the scattered inhabitants of which did not come into touch with the
Christian propagandists and their new creed for a considerable time.
Hence the idea of a country fellow became synonymous with that of a
worshipper of the gods long since despised.
[1039] The history of their migration and subsequent activity at the
local source of their inspiration will deserve our attention in a
future chapter.
[1040] Valentinian I and the succeeding emperors legislated definitely
against them; Cod. Theod., XVI, v, 3, 18, 40, 43, 59; cf. Cod., I, v.
The whole title against heretics contains sixty-six laws, a monument
of Christian bigotry and intolerance. The novelty of the Christian
doctrines and the constant dissensions of ecclesiastics as to the
proper mode of apprehending them, caused all classes to be infected
with a mania for drawing theological distinctions, _ex. gr._, “If you
require some small change, the person you address will begin to argue
about ‘begotten and unbegotten’; should you ask the price of bread you
will hear that the Father is greater and the Son inferior; or in reply
to an inquiry whether your bath is prepared, the attendant will define
for your benefit that the Son was made out of nothing”; Gregory Nys.,
Orat. De Deitate, etc., 2 (in Migne, i, 557). Yet sometimes a prelate
would assume a jocular tone in the pulpit when speaking on these grave
questions. Thus Eudoxius, Bishop of CP., began his discourse one day
with the assertion, “The Father is impious, but the Son is pious.”
The congregation seemed awe-struck, but he at once continued, “Be not
alarmed; the Son is pious because he worships the Father, but the
Father worships no one”; Socrates, ii, 43. Marrast has devised some
scenes to bring out the absurd way in which theological hair-splitting
disturbed everyday social relations at this period; _op. cit._, p. 89.
[1041] Chrysostom mentions the fact with exultation. Objectors fear
that the race may die out as the result of the widespread celibacy,
but the Saint knows better; the women who remain will be rendered more
fecund by the Deity, and thus the numerical complement of mankind
will be maintained. He also knows that there is a countless host
of heaven, asexual, who are propagated in a passionless manner by
divine ordination; In Epist. Rom. Hom. xiii, 7 (in Migne, ix, 517);
De Virginitate, 14, _et seq._ (in Migne, i, 544); cf. Ambrose, De
Virginitate, 3; Rufinus, Hist. Monach., 7 (in Migne, 413).
[1042] Monks are enjoined by Theodosius I “deserta loca et vastas
solitudines sequi atque habitare”; Cod. Theod., XVI, iii.
[1043] The literature of early monkish life, descriptive and laudatory,
is very extensive; see Gieseler, Eccles. Hist., i, 95, 96, etc. The
most striking picture will be found in Evagrius, i, 21; iv, 33, etc. He
is lost in admiration of them; they suppressed their natural appetites
so rigidly that they looked like corpses wandering away from their
graves. Some lived in dens and caves where they could neither stand
nor lie. Some dwelt in the open air almost naked, exposed to excessive
heat or cold. Others rejected human food and took to grazing like
cattle, shunning human beings as if they were wild beasts. Both sexes
embraced such lives of unremitting castigation. Some of the males
made a practice of repairing from time to time to the cities in order
to demonstrate their sexual frigidity by bathing in the public baths
amongst nude women. They applied themselves to prayer, of course, until
they brought themselves to the verge of exhaustion; cf. Sozomen, vi,
28, _et seq._ One Apelles had a conflict with the devil similar to that
related of the English St. Dunstan.
[1044] The celebrated Simeon Stylites was the inventor of this sublime
method of serving the Deity. From 420 he lived on columns near Antioch
for thirty-seven years; Evagrius, i, 13; see Gieseler, i, _loc. cit._,
for reference to fuller accounts, separate biographies, etc.
[1045] He was contemporary with Athanasius, who wrote an extant life of
him; see Sozomen, i, 13, etc.
[1046] Sozomen, iii, 14.
[1047] Socrates, iv, 23; Sozomen, i, 12, _et seq._ Previous to
Christianity there were at least two communities of Jewish ascetics in
the near East, the Essenes, who dwelt west of the Dead Sea, and the
Therapeutae, who lived by Lake Moeris, near Alexandria. The first have
been described briefly by Pliny (Hist. Nat., v, 15) and the second by
Philo Judaeus in a separate tract (De Vita Contemplativa) respecting
the authorship and date of which, however, opinion continually
fluctuates; I do not know whether at present it is on the crest of the
wave or in the trough of the sea. These solitaries consisted of males
and females, and were recruited regularly by persons who became sick of
the world and determined to fly far from the madding crowd. About them
generally see Neander, Church Hist., Introd.
[1048] Socrates, iv, 21; Gregory Nazianz., Laud. Basil (in Migne, ii,
577).
[1049] Nicephorus, Cal., xv, 23; see p. 78. Not psalmody, however,
says Card. Hardouin, but restless application to work. Manufacture of
fictitious documents he insinuates, doubtless.
[1050] Cod., XII, i, 63; Orosius, vii, 33; Jerome, Chron., an. 375; cf.
Socrates, iv, 24.
[1051] The histories of monachism are numerous and voluminous,
especially those composed some two or three centuries ago. Helyot’s
Hist. des Ordres Mon., Paris, 1714, etc., in 8 vols., may be read for
amusement as well as instruction.
[1052] Epicurus, the unavowed disciple of Leucippus and Democritus, the
earliest atomists, conceived the coalescence of the particles to result
from their rushing onwards always under the influence of a certain
natural deflection which led to their meeting continually so as to
become conjoined. As an Academic, and, therefore, a sceptic, Carneades
could not accept this or any other theory, but in criticizing its
fortuity, he remarked that it might have been perfected, or, at least,
made more intelligible if Epicurus had conferred some faculty of will
or intention on his atoms; Cicero, De Finibus, i, 6; De Fato, 11. With
our increased knowledge of physics, we may now venture to supply the
deficiency in accordance with the suggestion of Carneades. Not even in
the process of crystallization can the motion of the atoms or molecules
be considered as fortuitous, since they seem to be borne towards each
other under the influence of some irresistible desire. The recent
investigators strongly uphold the vitality of the process.
[1053] The question of abiogenesis or spontaneous generation, remains
still indeterminate. Substances in transitional stages between the
vital and the non-vital state have not been observed; perhaps because
such matter is too inconspicuous to have been discovered so far and
recognized, or, it may be, that the swarm of germs by descent is now
so great, that the incipiently organic at once becomes their prey, and
forms, perhaps, their constant pabulum. If identical atoms underlie all
kinds of matter, and the recent _début_ of electrons brings the proof
appreciably nearer that it is so, we are still at a loss to explain why
they should at one time, by their association, exhibit vital phenomena,
and at another reveal to us their versatility in aggregating under the
species of gold, sulphur, etc. The statement in the text might run that
the chemical compounds combine with each other in greater complexity to
form the elements of protoplasm.
[1054] That the effective origin of evolution consists in will capable
of responding to a stimulus, being an essential attribute of matter,
is a conclusion to which we are led necessarily by a consideration
of the subject. When an amoeba protrudes a process, incited from
within or without by some desire, it is already on the way to evolve
itself into a higher form; and when a hygienist essays to preserve or
prolong life by his studies in bacteriology, etc., in his immeasurably
higher sphere, he literally does no more. The earlier evolutionists,
Huxley, for example, were inclined to hold that the potency of cosmic
evolution became evanescent progressively with the elaboration of
purposive intelligence and social institutions, but such a view is
manifestly erroneous, and would not now, I presume, be maintained by
any contemporary scientists.
[1055] Our means of astronomical research are not sufficiently definite
to enable us to explain conclusively the appearance of previously
unobserved stars (_e.g._ Nova Persei, 1901), but there is good reason
to suppose that these new lights sometimes signal to us the catastrophe
of millions of beings more or less similar to ourselves. We are,
however, well acquainted with the convulsions of nature, which often
bring swift destruction to thousands of those dwelling on this small
globe; for instance, the Mont Pelée eruption of 1903, which claimed
some 40,000 victims. It might indeed be imagined from the occurrence of
such disasters that animated nature is merely a kind of surface disease
of the earth, which undergoes a spontaneous cure from time to time by
means of earthquakes, floods, volcanic action, etc. Certainly, if we
are the only result of the activities of this solar system, there would
seem to be much superfluous expenditure of power and materials. The
conception of God, when cleared of all irrelevancy, is merely that of
a perpetual source of energy; and that we must find in the medium we
exist in or nowhere. It is nugatory to talk of beginnings and endings
when dealing with the infinite, unless as regards phases of phenomena;
if there had to be an end of the universe, there would never have been
a beginning.
[1056] Amongst some follies, the Stoic philosophers, in their
pantheistic conception of nature, reached the highest level which has
yet been attained in the expression of theocratic dogma. With them, the
universe is the very body of the divine essence, and the good and wise
man is in no way inferior to the sublimest manifestation of it. He is
rightly called a god upon earth, and his intellect is an efflux of the
Deity. “Back to the Porch for your ideas of God and nature,” the modern
philosopher may cry to his age. “You are gods yourselves, and nature
is your realm to conquer and hold in subjection.” The religion of the
future will be more akin to Stoicism than to any other doctrine which
has been formulated by thinkers in the past—a high ethical code upheld
by a pride of race and a devotion to the evolution of humanity. The
Stoic would not now be ready to make his own quietus with a bare bodkin
should the currents turn awry. He would stand to his post till the last
hour, working for the advancement of science. “Les stoiciens n’étaient
occupés qu’a travailler au bonheur des hommes, à exercer les devoirs
de la société: il semblait qu’ils regardassant cet esprit sacré qu’ils
croyaient être en eux-mêmes, comme une espèce de providence favorable
qui veillait sur le genre humain”; Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois, xxiv,
10. See Plutarch, De Stoic. Repug., 13; Adv. Stoicos, 33; Seneca, De
Provid., 1; Epist., cvi; cxvii, etc.; Epictetus, ii, 8, 9; Lactantius,
Div. Inst., i, 5, 27, etc.
[1057] Accepting the identity of the evolutionary process at all grades
of its prepotency, we may suppose that future advancement will be
the result of deliberate effort; and that the more determinate such
effort, the more rapid must be the progress. While the aptitude of
our faculties must be increased by their being constantly exercised
in study and research, the knowledge attainable by such work may
ultimately win for us some controlling influence over our physiological
constitution. The wild dreams of mediaeval alchemists now seem to us
less unreal since we have had experience of the properties of radium;
and the vision of an _elixir vitae_, which illuded those investigators,
appears more realizable in the light of recent research. The arrest of
senility may come within the range of the future therapeutist; and a
new Demeter may subject the modern Triptolemus to some alchemical fire,
to render him proof against mortality. Less remotely, the systematic
administration of sexual associations would exert a powerful influence
over mental and bodily development; and it would be physiologically
correct if famous stallions should stand to cover brood mares in the
human as well as in the equine world. The Spartans realized something
of this in practice; Plutarch, Lycurgus. The tendency to equalization
of the sexes which has been growing of late years, is undoubtedly a
forward movement on the path of evolution. The possibility of man in
the future being endowed with greatly increased intellectual power
must not be lost sight of. Exceptional gifts of genius, in some cases
uniquely manifested, and the occurrence of “prodigies,” especially
in relation to mathematics, music, and art, teach that the mental
faculties of the human race may yet be evolved in a much higher degree.
The limitations imagined by Greg, which are, perhaps, generally
entertained, must now be contemplated with suspended judgement: “Two
glorious futures lie before us: the progress of the race here, the
progress of the man hereafter. History indicates that the individual
man needs to be translated in order to excel the past. He appears
to have reached his perfection centuries ago.... What sculptor has
surpassed Phidias? What poet has transcended Homer?” etc.; Enigmas
of Life, 1891, p. 177. This is an evident misconception of the pace
at which evolution moves; such short periods count for nothing. In
evolutionary time, Homer and Phidias are our contemporaries. We know
nothing of the final state of such beings as ourselves after they have
passed through some millions of years, to which most probably the life
of this planet must extend. They may well attain to some condition
resembling that of the “gods” of Epicurus, who existed with a “quasi
corpus, quasi sanguis,” etc. The chemist and biologist have a wide
field before them in which they will yet make many conquests.
[1058] Compare the account of the soldier Ammianus with those of the
church historians; Socrates, iii; Sozomen, v; Philostorgius (an Arian),
vii; Theodoret, iii, etc. These are honest writers and, although they
often relied on mere hearsay, most of the matter they bring forward is
historical. On the other hand the Church History of Eusebius, who was
infinitely above them in abilities and learning, contains little but
popular report and legend. It is improbable that Julian inflicted any
physical persecution on the Christians, but no doubt his subordinates
did so on the strength of his attitude towards them and he afterwards
got all the credit of it.
[1059] It is generally suggested that the constant immigration of
barbarians and their wholesale collocation in the army must have
gradually undermined the civilization of the Empire. But a great state
is able to digest an enormous quantity of such accretions; and in the
pride of their recent elevation such new citizens would have become
more Roman than the Romans themselves. The great Transatlantic Republic
has been built up during three centuries by the immigration of alien
barbarians. For a good summary of the peaceful settlement of barbarians
in the Roman territories see Bury, _op. cit._, i, p. 31.
[1060] See Gieseler (_op. cit._, i, 99), where the assimilation of
heathenism is well summarized and instanced. Augustine (_c._ 400) draws
a striking picture of the impostors, who, in the garb of monks, tramped
the country selling sham relics, phylacteries, etc.; De Op. Monach.,
28, 31, etc.; Epist. ad Jan. (118). Jerome, in his diatribe against
Vigilantius, unwittingly makes a display of the gross superstition
which that earnest reformer sought to suppress. Bayle’s article on
Vigilantius (Dictionnaire, etc.) is a full and interesting account
of the subject, but there is more still in Gilly’s V. and his Times,
Lond., 1844.
[1061] The first victims of ecclesiastical rancour were the
Priscillianists, who arose in Spain about 380. They were tainted with
Manichaeism, and two bishops persuaded the tyrant of Gaul, Maximus,
to put several of them to death in 385. Generally the Fathers of the
Church were shocked at this execution, but the utility of subjecting
heretics to the capital penalty was soon perceived and the practice
thenceforward became an intrinsic part of Christian discipline. The
result is well known to students of Church history and the religious
wars waged against the Paulicians, Albigenses, Huguenots, etc., and
the horrors of the Inquisition are familiar subjects in popular
literature. During three centuries in Spain (1471-1781), the first and
the last scene of the judicial slaughter of heretics, nearly 250,000
persons were dealt with by the Inquisitors, a circumstance which Galton
considers to have been equivalent to the suppression of national genius
and to account for “the superstitious and unintelligent Spanish race
of the present day”; see Hereditary Genius, 1869, p. 359. The same
reasoning would, of course, apply to any process, such as is occurring
in Russia at the present day, by which the more active and effective
members of a community are being constantly weeded out. Paganism was
not, of course, absolutely free from intolerance; and the cases of
Socrates, Anaxagoras, etc., will occur to every one. Even Cleanthes,
the Stoic, denounced Aristarchus of Samos for running counter to the
popular religion when he put forth some astronomical anticipations of
the Copernican system; Plutarch, De Facie in Orbe Lunae, 6. Even Cicero
in his “Laws” (ii, 8) decidedly proscribes nonconformity with the
state religion. Polytheism was tolerant because it was comprehensive
and could easily assimilate all kindred beliefs. Thus a hospitable
reception was ensured to any new arrival who was fairly accredited as a
member of the Olympian family.
[1062] Seven Crusades to Palestine were undertaken between 1096 and
1270. During that period more than 7,000,000 persons are said to have
started from Western Europe on their way to the East. Perhaps the
weeding out of the worst fanatics in this way may have conduced to
subsequent progress.
[1063] Dante (1265-1321) may be considered as the first prominent
figure of the Renaissance; Wycliffe (1325-84) of the Reformation, but
Arnold of Brescia (_c._ 1100-55) has some claim to the credit of being
the first Protestant.
[1064] In the daily press of March 15, 1896, we read the utterance of a
R. C. prelate when speaking of the Anglican clergy: “Do they claim the
power to produce the actual living Jesus Christ by transubstantiation
on the altar, according to the claims of the priesthood of the Eastern
and Western Churches?” Persons who address a public audience in the
Metropolis in this manner are not considered to be insane nor are they
classed as charlatans. Concomitantly with such proceedings we find that
the greatest of English encyclopaedias is published with introductory
articles in which it is allowed that the old religion is now a mere
phantasm on the stage of reality. At the present moment every form of
religious belief rests secure and stable on the broad back of popular
ignorance; and it remains for posterity in ages to come to solve the
problem as to how long humanity will have to wait for the evolution
of that elevation of mind which will decline to pay the tribute of
hypocrisy and reticence for the assurance of a stipend.
[1065] Sooner or later the progress of colonization is always resisted
by the aborigines, but the numbers of them who fall in war would soon
be regenerated and their gradual extinction is due to the restrictions
imposed on them by civilization or to their becoming addicted to its
vices. The decrease of the U. S. Indians (303,000, 1880; 266,000,
1900; previous decrease unknown) and of the Maoris (100,000, 1780;
46,000, 1901) is partly due to conflicts with the whites, but that
of the Hawaiians (200,000, 1780; 31,000, 1900) results solely from
the immigration of higher races. Similarly the Tasmanians have become
extinct in the last half of the nineteenth century. The peaceful
pioneer of civilization, perhaps a missionary, is more deadly to the
native races than periodical invasions by an armed force.
[1066] The ecclesiastical dictatorship of the Byzantine emperors, for
which the term “Caesarpapism” has been coined, is specially illustrated
by Gfrörer, Byzant. Geschichte, Graz, 1874, ii, 17, _et seq._
[1067] All the chronographers connect his death with a thunderstorm,
and it appears at least probable that he was affected with brontophobia
in his later years. He is even said to have built a chamber to retire
into, for fear of being struck by lightning; Cedrenus, etc.
[1068] Theodore Lect., ii, 7, etc.
[1069] It appears that he set up a private chair or stand in one of the
churches, from which he used to address a crowd to gain converts for
his doctrine. He was ejected thence by the same Patriarch, who shortly
afterwards had to crown him; Theophanes, an. 5982; Suidas, _sb._
φατρία; see p. 104.
[1070] Evagrius, iii, 34.
[1071] He tried to obtain its acceptance in 496, and again 508; Victor
Ton., an. 496; Theophanes, an. 6001, etc. He even tried to convert the
Pope, Anastasius II; Theodore Lect., ii, 17.
[1072] He favoured the Reds, a mere appendix of the Greens, and so kept
himself free from any absolute partisanship; Jn. Malala, xvi. Rambaud
(_op. cit._, 4, 5) is successful in proving by texts that the Demes
did not represent definitely any political or religious party; and the
notion of comparing them to a sort of popular house, with “supporters
of the government,” and an “opposition” cannot be substantiated.
They were rivals in the games and threefold rivals for the Emperor’s
favour, in the Hippodrome, for interpreting his will to the people, and
for conveying to him the popular sentiment. Thus they had a place in
the administration, but not one that can be paralleled in any modern
constitution. They were practically indifferent to creed or policy. The
numbers recruited under each colour at CP. might be from 900 to 1,500;
Theophylact Sim., viii, 7.
[1073] See p. 155. But the exactions of Marinus the Syrian, P.P. who
committed the local supervision of the taxes to so-called _vindices_
of his own creation, instead of to the Decurions, ultimately branded
A. with the opprobrium of being a grasping character: Jn. Lydus, De
Magistr., iii, 36, 46, 49; Evagrius, iii, 42, etc.
[1074] The large sum he left in the Treasury has already been alluded
to; see p. 163.
[1075] The closest personal view of him is to be got from Cyril
Scythop., Vit. S. Saba, 50, _et seq._ He was surnamed Dicorus
(double-pupil), because his eyes differed in colour.
[1076] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 10; De Aedific., iii, 2, etc.; Jn.
Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 47, _et passim_.
[1077] Especially Evagrius and Cyril Scythop., both of whom condemned
him as a heretic.
[1078] Marcellinus Com., an. 518. Now Uskiub, a flourishing Turkish
town, nearly on the same site. The whole district has recently been
explored by Evans; Antiquarian Researches in Illyricum, Archaeologia,
xlix, 1885.
[1079] The Balkans. See generally Tozer’s Travels in the Turkish
Highlands, 1869, i, 16, etc.
[1080] Procopius, De Aedific., iv, 1. It seems that they are still
represented by villages called Taor and Bader; see Tozer, _op. cit._,
ii. Append.
[1081] See Tozer’s narrative of his journey through the Pass from
Prisrend to Uskiub; _loc. cit._
[1082] Novel. vii, 1. The extensive remains of the Latin occupation
still to be seen are described by Evans, _op. cit._
[1083] Procopius, De Bel. Vand., ii, 16.
[1084] _Ibid._, Anecdot., 6. The names of the other two are given as
Zimarchus and Ditybistus, but I see no reason to call them his brothers
as is sometimes done. Justin was cowherd, or swineherd, or field
labourer according to Zonaras, xiv, 5.
[1085] Procopius, _loc. cit._
[1086] According to Alemannus (pp. 361, 461), however, Zimarchus as a
centenarian (!) was active in important posts; Theophanes, an. 6054-5.
cf. Jn. Malala, xviii, p. 490
[1087] Jn. Antioch. (Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec., v, p. 31); Procopius,
_loc. cit._
[1088] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 8.
[1089] Theodore Lect., ii, 37; Const. Porph. De Cerim., i, 93, etc. His
title was Count of the Excubitors.
[1090] Jn. of Antioch., _loc. cit._, p. 35.
[1091] Procopius, Anecdot., 6.
[1092] _Ibid._, De Aedific., iv, 1.
[1093] _Ibid._, Anecdot., 12; Theophanes, an. 6024. The name seems to
have been common at this epoch; see Socrates, v, 21, etc.
[1094] The girl’s name was Vigilantia; Procopius, De Bel. Vand., ii,
24, etc. Probably her mother’s name.
[1095] Corp. Insc. Lat., v, 8120.
[1096] Inferred from subsequent history. The point is discussed by
Ludewig, _op. cit._, viii, 5; cf. Alemannus, p. 437, _et seq._
[1097] Victor Ton., an. 520; Const. Porph., _op. cit._, i, 93.
[1098] The circumstances and date of the adoption are not recorded, but
that it must have taken place appears evident from Cod., II, ii, 9;
Novel. xxviii, 4, etc. Ludewig argues against it in the face of facts.
[1099] Almost certainly: the correct form would have been Justinus
Sabbatianus, but the Byzantines were ignorant or varied old rules _ad
lib._ There seems to have been no classical Justinian, but two of that
name flit across the stage under Honorius; Zosimus, v, 30; vi, 2.
[1100] See pp. 103, 104.
[1101] From Chron. Paschal. and Theophanes it might be argued that
there was an interregnum, but the contemporary accounts of Peter
Magister (Const. Porph., _loc. cit._) and Cyril Scythop. (_op. cit._,
60) prove that Anastasius died early in the morning on July 9, and
that Justin was elevated on the same day. Some give Justin the credit
of having betrayed the cause of the eunuch by his astuteness, but it
appears rather that his greatness was thrust upon him; Jn. Malala,
xvii; Evagrius, iv, 12; Zonaras, xiv, 51, etc.
[1102] The official record of the election by Peter Magister (_loc.
supra cit._) has been preserved. It was Justin’s own duty to announce
publicly that the throne was vacant. The Circus was immediately filled
and, as there was no known claimant to the succession, a wild scene
ensued. First one of Justin’s subordinates was set up on a shield by
a company of the guards, but the Blues, disapproving, made a rush and
dispersed the throng. Then a patrician general was seized on by a body
of the Scholars, but the Excubitors attacked them and were dragging the
unlucky officer away to lynch him when he was rescued by the Candidate
Justinian, who was watching the tumult. Upon this the crowd scurried
round Justinian himself, but he declined the dangerous distinction,
being doubtless aware that a decisive election was maturing behind the
scenes among responsible representatives. Still, however, the attempts
to create an emperor went on, until at last the doors of the Cathisma
were thrown open and Justin appeared, supported by the Patriarch, the
Senate, and the chief military officers. All then perceived that an
emperor had been chosen by legitimate methods, and both factions with
the rest of the populace applauded the new monarch in the usual way:
“Justin Augustus, may you be victorious! Reign as you have lived!”
etc. It will be observed that Justin did not ascend the throne as the
emperor of the Blues or the Greens, but that both Demes joined in their
acquiescence. This apparently was always the case unless some party
usurper, such as Phocas, managed to seize the reins of power; see
Theophanes, an. 6094.
[1103] Procopius, Anecdot., 6. Nearly all the chronographers note his
illiteracy. A certain Marinus painted in one of the public baths a
sequence of pictures in which he portrayed the career of Justin from
his youth upwards. For this he was taken to task by the Emperor, but he
extricated himself by explaining that his intention was an ethical one,
in order to teach the people that in the Byzantine Empire a man might
raise himself by his talents from the dunghill to the first position in
the state; Zachariah Mytil., viii, 1.
[1104] Theodore Lect., ii, 37, etc. The name Lupicina was, of course,
the popular sobriquet for a prostitute, being connected with _lupa_,
_lupanar_, etc.
[1105] Victor Ton., an. 523; Cyril Scythop., _op. cit._, 68.
[1106] Marcellinus Com., an. 527. He also took over his uncle’s post of
Count of the Excubitors; Hormisdas, Epist., 37.
[1107] Procopius, Anecdot., 6; De Bel. Vand., i, 9; Jn. Lydus, De
Magistr., iii, 51, etc.
[1108] Zonaras, xiv, 5.
[1109] Procopius, Anecdot., 6. He was probably the _ex officio_
president of the Consistorium. It was generally anticipated that
Anastasius would have chosen a successor from one of his three
nephews, Hypatius, Pompeius, and Probus, all of whom he had raised to
important positions. His failure to do so is accounted for seriously
by a singular story. Being undecided as to which of them he should
select to inherit the Empire, he arranged that they should dine
together at the Palace on a certain day in an apartment by themselves.
Here he provided three couches, on which, according to custom, they
would take a siesta after the meal. One of these he designated in his
own mind as the Imperial bed, and kept watch in order to see which
of them would occupy it. As it happened, however, two of the three
threw themselves down together on the same couch, and the significant
position remained vacant. Judging that a higher power had ruled the
event, he then prayed that his successor might be revealed to him as
the first person who should enter to him next morning. This proved to
be that very likely officer of his household, Justin, a result which
appears to have satisfied him; Anon. Vales., 13. Such relations cannot
be rejected in this age on the grounds that so-and-so had too much good
sense, etc. On the contrary, they serve to indicate the mental calibre
of the time. The slaughter of several “Theos” as possible successors
by Valens (Ammianus, xxix, 1) may be remembered, and Zeno is said to
have executed an unfortunate silentiary anent of a silly prediction;
Jn. Malala, xv; Theophanes, an. 5982. But Justin and Justinian, being
arrested on two occasions, as it is said, were providentially preserved
by visions which enjoined their release; Procopius, Anecdot., 8;
Cedrenus, i, p. 635, etc.
[1110] Procopius, Anecdot., 6; Jn. Malala, xvii (the fuller transcript
by Mommsen, Hermes, vi, 1885, p. 375); Zachariah Mytil., viii, 1, etc.
The cruel fate of Theocritus is specially indicated by Marcellinus
Com., an. 519. Before the death of Anastasius, Amantius was indulged
with a pre-vision of his destiny, having seen himself in a dream on the
point of being devoured by a great pig, symbolizing, of course, Justin
the swineherd.
[1111] The massacres of Monophysites in Asia Minor are described
at length with the names of numerous sufferers by Michael Melit.
(Langlois). Among them, two stylites with their pillars were hurled to
the ground.
[1112] Jn. Malala, xvii, etc.
[1113] _Ibid._ It was proposed that he should become one of the two
Masters of the Forces _in praesenti_.
[1114] Zachariah Mytil., viii, 2. This was the church in which the
great Council of Chalcedon was held. Evagrius gives a picturesque
description of it.
[1115] Zachariah Mytil., viii, 2; Procopius, Anecdot., 6. After this
Justinian spoke of him as his “most distinguished brother”; Hormisdas,
Epist., 55.
[1116] In the government of the Church he showed great activity, traces
of which will be found in Concil. and Baronius, etc., during these
years.
[1117] Jn. Malala, especially in Hermes, _loc. cit._
[1118] Procopius, _loc. cit._; Evagrius, iv, 3; Victor Ton., an. 523.
As to the _Delphicum_, or banqueting room, see Procopius, De Bel.
Vand., i, 21.
[1119] Marcellinus Com., an. 520. Theophanes says he was killed in
an _émeute_ by the Byzantines to avenge those who perished through
his insurrection under Anastasius, but this is evidently a report
circulated later on to cover Justinian’s guilt. Zonaras mentions both
versions of the murder.
[1120] Const. Porph., De Them., i, 12.
[1121] Memorials of this consulate still exist, and samples of the
diptychs are preserved at Paris and Milan; Corp. Insc. Lat., _loc.
cit._ Unfortunately they are simple in design and do not attempt
a likeness of Justinian. From them we learn that at this time he
had assumed the names of Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus; for
reproductions see Molinier, Hist. gen. des Arts, etc., Paris, 1896,
and Diehl, _op. cit._ Perhaps the later diptych in Gori represents
him; see p. 50. As to the adulatory attempts to fasten the name of
Anicius on Justin and his nephew in order to connect them with the most
distinguished Roman family of the age, see Ludewig and Isambert (_op.
cit._), who have discussed the question at length. Justinian and St.
Benedict, a contemporary, are brought into relationship and presented
as scions of the same race as the existing royal house of Hapsburg.
[1122] Marcellinus Com., an. 521. Trajan, after his conquest of
the Dacians, exhibited 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals in the
Colosseum; Dion Cass., lxviii, 15. Under Claudius I a naval battle for
sport on Lake Fucinus brought 100 ships, manned by 19,000 combatants,
into play; Tacitus, Ann., xii, 56; Dion Cass., lx, 33. Real warfare
among the Grecian states was often on a less extensive scale.
Justinian’s display cost about £150,000, his first considerable draught
on the savings of Anastasius.
[1123] Const. Porph., De Them., i, 12.
[1124] Procopius, De Aedific., i, 4; Codinus, p. 87; see p. 37. cf.
Chron. Paschal., an. 605
[1125] A history of the reign of Justin is enumerated among the works
of Hesychius of Miletus, but nothing remains to us but the jottings,
more or less brief, of the chroniclers. Nicephorus Callistus (_c._
1400) has rolled into one nearly all previous Church historians.
[1126] Jn. Malala, xvii; cf. Marcellinus Com., an. 523, etc. Theodotus,
the P.U. of CP. was especially severe in his repressive measures and
went too far in executing a man of rank. On the strength of a serious
illness of Justinian it seems likely that he even aimed at the purple,
but Justinian recovered and immediately brought him to trial for his
excesses. By the influence of Proclus he escaped with exile; Procopius,
Anecdot., 9; Jn. Malala, xvii; cf. Alemannus, p. 368.
[1127] Paulus Diaconus, Hist. Miscel., xvii.
[1128] _Ibid._; Marcellinus Com., an. 525; Theophanes, an. 6016, etc.
[1129] Paulus Diac., _loc. cit._; Anon. Vales., 16. These writers,
however, represent Justin as conceding everything demanded, although
the statement is at variance with the general tenor of their own
account, and there is no trace of a wave of leniency in the literature
of the East. That John got the credit of having betrayed his trust in
the interests of orthodoxy is shown by a spurious letter in which he
is seen urging the Italian bishops from his prison to persecute the
Arians; Labbe, Concil., viii, 605.
[1130] Pliny (Hist. Nat., vi, 15) adverts to the common error of
calling them Caspian, instead of Caucasian. Properly the Caspian, also
Albanian Gates (now Pass of Derbend), were situated at the abutment of
the Caucasus on the sea of that name. There were other Caspian Gates
south of that sea in Hyrcania.
[1131] On the Russian military road from Vladikavkaz to Tiflis. It
rises to 8,000 feet.
[1132] Pliny, Hist. Nat., vi, 12; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 10. An
old way of blocking dangerous passes; Xenophon, Anab., i, 4.
[1133] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 52, _et seq._
[1134] _Ibid._, Procopius, _loc. cit._
[1135] Jn. Lydus, _loc. cit._
[1136] Zachariah Mytil., viii, 5. Cavades demanded 500 lb. of gold
(£20,000) each year.
[1137] Al Mundhir (Nöldeke).
[1138] Zachariah Mytil., _loc. cit._; cf. Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i,
17.
[1139] Zachariah Mytil., _loc. cit._ This account seems to emanate
from a contemporary native of Syria; cf. Procopius, De Bel. Pers.,
ii, 28. Al Lât and Al Uzzâ, names of a lascivious duality, held sway
at Mecca till overthrown by Mahomet. This Arab, like most of his
tribe, appears to have possessed a subtle wit, a circumstance which
was utilized for the invention of a skit pointed at the Monophysites.
It was related that two bishops of that sect, paying him a visit in
the hope of converting him to Christianity, found him apparently in a
state of great despair. On being questioned, Alamundar replied that
he was shocked at having just heard of the death of the archangel
Michael. The missionaries assured him that the death of an angel was an
impossibility. “How then,” exclaimed the Arab, “can you pretend that
Christ, being very God, died on the cross, if he had but one divine
nature?” The bishops retired discomfited; Theodore Lect., ii, 35, etc.
[1140] Rufinus, x, 10; Socrates, i, 20, etc. A Christian captive, a
female, won over the royal family by miraculous cures, etc.
[1141] In the classical period Iberia was the usual name for Spain
among the Greeks.
[1142] Jn. Malala, xvii, etc. The tables (see p. 90) of his cloak, were
embroidered with the likeness of Justin.
[1143] Jn. Malala, xvii, etc.
[1144] See p. 176.
[1145] Jn. Malala, _loc. cit._, etc.
[1146] Khosrau (Nöldeke); also called Nushirvan (Anosharwán), as
Zotenberg always names him in his translation of Tabari.
[1147] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 11. He even tried to make out
that it was a cunningly devised plot to annex the Empire to Persia.
The power of Proclus, who seems to have been an alarmist, is clearly
brought out by this incident.
[1148] Procopius, _loc. cit._ Theophanes (followed by Clinton, Fast.
Rom.) places this affair in 521, a date which removes it altogether out
of its setting; 525 is the most likely year.
[1149] Hypatius and Probus, the nephews of Anastasius.
[1150] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 12.
[1151] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 12. As, however, the Roman guard
could only be victualled by the active co-operation of the Lazi, and
after a short time they proved too lazy to bring in provisions to the
fort, it was evacuated and left to the Persians; _ibid._
[1152] _Ibid._
[1153] “Sidus cometes effulsit; de quo vulgi opinio est tanquam
mutationem regnis portendat,” etc.; Tacitus, Ann., xiv, 22; cf. xv, 47.
As Milton expresses it:
Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet burn’d,
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes pestilence and war.
Paradise Lost, ii.
[1154] The fullest account of these calamities is given by Jn. Malala,
xvii.
[1155] Cedrenus and Zonaras place it in this reign. Jn. Malala a little
later.
[1156] This was not the first occurrence of the kind, and all the
chronographers are anxious to record that a slab now came to light with
a punning inscription or prophecy, which may be rendered in English as,
“The river Skip will skip some evil skippings for the townspeople”; as
anxious as they are to note the peregrinations of a Cilician giantess,
over seven feet high, who tramped the Empire, begging a penny at all
the workshops for showing herself. After its restoration Edessa was
called Justinopolis in legal acts.
[1157] Procopius puts it as high as 300,000; De Bel. Pers., ii, 14.
[1158] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 54.
[1159] Zachariah Mytil., viii, 4.
[1160] Nearly all these particulars are due to John Malala, who, from
the amount of detail he supplies about his native city, may be called
the historian of Antioch. From him we learn that the Olympic games
continued to be celebrated at Antioch, but were finally suppressed in
521 by Justin, for reasons similar to those which about half a century
ago led to the abolition of Donnybrook Fair.
[1161] Cedrenus, i, p. 641. Perhaps he is only speaking figuratively.
[1162] Jn. Lydus, _loc. cit._
[1163] Evagrius, iv, 6. Jn. Malala (xviii, p. 443) puts the
re-christening in 528. He adds that Justinian remitted three years’
taxes to several of the towns then damaged by earthquakes.
[1164] His death is said to have resulted from the recrudescence of
an old wound in the foot at the age of seventy-five (Jn. Malala) or
seventy-seven (Chron. Paschal.). The higher number is to be preferred,
as Procopius says that at his accession he was τυμβογέρων, that is, an
old man “with one foot in the grave”; Anecdot., 6; cf. Alemannus, p.
385.
[1165] The age of Justinian is not satisfactorily known, but Cedrenus
and Zonaras give him forty-five years at his coronation. I need only
allude to the reputed life of Justinian by his so-called tutor, Bogomil
or Theophilus, quoted implicitly by Alemannus, a historical puzzle
for nearly three centuries, but at last solved a few years ago; see
Bryce, English Hist. Rev., 1887. It is little more than a MS. leaflet
(in the Barberini library at Rome), and proves to be devoid of any
sort of authenticity. The chief non-corroborated statement is that
Justinian spent some time at Ravenna, as a hostage, with Theodoric the
Goth. Justinian himself was, in fact, a barbarian of some tribe, and
the bogus name given him, _Uprauda_, seems to have some affinity with
“upright” and “Justinian.”
[1166] The characters of Helen, Andromache, and Penelope, as they
appear in the Iliad and Odyssey, have taken a place permanently in
modern literature.
[1167] See Plutarch’s account of the legislation of Lycurgus. A king
of Sparta was fined by the Ephors for marrying a wife of poor physique
for money, instead of choosing a strapping young lady with a view to
having a vigorous family; _ibid._, Agesilaus; Athenaeus, xiii, 20. The
Spartans applauded the adulterous union of Acrotatus and Chelidonis,
because they seemed to be physically well matched for the production of
offspring; Plutarch, Pyrrhus. In fact Lycurgus thought that wives might
properly be lent to suitable mates for breeding purposes. As an example
of noble character in the female, the conduct of Chelonis is recorded:
also the resolution and bravery of the female relatives of Cleomenes
when they all met their death at Alexandria; _ibid._, Agis; Cleomenes.
[1168] On the Athenian women in general, see Becker-Göll, Charicles,
Excurs.
[1169] To a female visitor from another country it seemed that the
Lacedaemonian women ruled the men; Plutarch, Lycurgus; cf. Aristotle,
Politics, ii, 9. He makes out that things were muddled at Sparta, owing
to interference by the women.
[1170] Herodotus, vii, 99; viii, 87, etc. Several of her ruses in war
are mentioned by Polyaenus, Stratagems, viii, 53.
[1171] Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxxvi, 5, etc. The fragments of it to a
large amount are now in a special room of the British Museum, together
with attempted restorations in the solid and on the flat. It was
delightfully situated on the Bay of Halicarnassus, a sight in itself,
and a point of sight for a splendid prospect of sea, contained in a
circuit of rising coast, covered with specimens of Greek architecture.
Herodotus himself hailed from this town.
[1172] Polyaenus, Stratagems, viii, 60.
[1173] Athenaeus, xiii, 10.
[1174] Diodorus Sic., xix, 52; 11; 51; Justin, xiv, 5, 6, etc.
[1175] Laodicea in Phrygia (and elsewhere), by Seleucus after his
mother Laodice; Thessalonica by Cassander, and Nice (Nicaea) in
Bithynia, of ecclesiastical fame, by Lysimachus, from their wives.
These were generals and successors of Alexander, _c._ 320 B.C.
[1176] The most illustrious lady of this age was Phila, wife of
Demetrius Poliorcetes (her third marriage). She acted the part of
political adviser and ambassadress; and was amiable and pacific as
well as intellectual; Plutarch, Demetrius; Diodorus Sic., xx, 93. A
flatterer of D. raised a temple to her, and called it the Philaeum;
Athenaeus, vi, 65.
[1177] Justin, xxxix, 1, 2.
[1178] _Ibid._, 4. These queens flourished _c._ 100 B.C.
[1179] Justin, xxvi, 3. He was called Demetrius the Handsome, son of
the D. above-named, but not by Phila. She stood at the door of the
chamber, while the ministers of her vengeance were operating within,
calling out to them to spare her mother (_c._ 250 B.C.). Her own fate
was to be put to death by her son, Ptolemy IV of Egypt, in 221 B.C.
[1180] That is, her hair cut off and suspended in the temple of
Aphrodite to propitiate divine favour for her husband (Ptolemy III),
during his Syrian war, _c._ 245 B.C. It became a constellation
according to the adulators of the day, as is shown in the poem of
Catullus, a translation from the Greek of Callimachus.
[1181] The constitution of the Roman family can be apprehended readily
by running through the consecutive expositions in Muirhead’s Private
Law of Rome, Edin., 1886, pp. 24, 64, 115, 248, 345, 514. In law the
mother and children were practically the slaves of the _paterfamilias_:
he could divorce his wife at pleasure, and yet 500 years elapsed before
a husband made use of this power, so potent was the high ethical code
which sustained the Republic.
[1182] The story or legend of Cloelia used to be well known. Being
delivered as a hostage, with a number of other maidens, to Porsena, she
encouraged them to escape, and headed the band in swimming across the
Tiber. But they were all punctiliously returned (_c._ 508 B.C.); Livy,
ii, 13; Plutarch, Publicola, etc.
[1183] Portia, daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus, the assassin of
Caesar, aspired to be the confidante of her husband, but, distrusting
her feminine nature, she refrained from soliciting him to trust
her, until, by stabbing herself in the thigh, she felt satisfied
of possessing sufficient masculine strength of mind to become the
repository of state secrets (44 B.C.); Plutarch, Brutus, etc. See
Shakespeare’s delineation of her in _Julius Caesar_, where she recounts
her action to Brutus.
[1184] The accomplishments of Cornelia, the fifth wife of Pompey, are
given in detail by Plutarch. She was well read in literature, played
the lyre, had made progress in geometry, and fortified herself by
the study of philosophy. Julia, the mother of Mark Antony, is called
“a most learned woman” by Cicero, Catiline, iv, 6. Greek culture was
fashionable at this time among the Romans. But an earlier Cornelia
(_c._ 330 B.C.) became famous in infamy as the centre of a female
society for poisoning men of note; Livy, viii, 18.
[1185] Tacitus, Ann., xiii, 5.
[1186] Hist. Aug. Heliogabalus, 2, _et seq._ She “lived the life of a
prostitute,” and she also instituted a “petty senate” of females, which
prescribed the fashions of the day to women. Manners, dress, jewellery,
style of carriages, choice of draught-animals, horses, asses, or oxen,
etc., were the subject of their jurisdiction.
[1187] _Ibid._, 17, _et seq._ Both were murdered, and their bodies
dragged through the streets by the Praetorian guard, before their reign
had lasted quite four years.
[1188] She was a daughter of the great Theodosius. The turning-point
in the fall of the Western Empire was the sacking of Rome by Alaric
in 410. From about 425 her authority was paramount at Ravenna, the
provisional capital or rather refuge of the mouldering government. Most
information about her is contained in Zosimus, vi, 12, and Procopius,
De Bel. Vand., i, 3, _et seq._
[1189] I have several times had occasion to mention this princess.
There is no consecutive history of this period, but merely scraps to be
collected from brief chronicles, Church historians, and fragments of
lost works, etc.
[1190] See pp. 103, 302.
[1191] Const. Porph., i, 93; see p. 303.
[1192] Jn. Malala, xv.; Theophanes, an. 5967, _et seq._
[1193] Tacitus, Ann., iv, 19; the case of Sosia Galla. Cf. the account
of Salonina and her gorgeous appearance, riding in the van of the army
with her husband Caecina; _ibid._, Hist., ii, 20.
[1194] Tacitus, Ann., iii, 33.
[1195] _Ibid._, i, 69.
[1196] _Ibid._, ii, 55, 74; iii, 17, etc. As she acted with the secret
approval of the Court, she was acquitted at a mock trial (20), but a
dozen years later, on the death of her accessories, she anticipated her
fate by suicide; _ibid._, vi, 26.
[1197] _Ibid._, iii, 33. Plutarch (De Mul. Virt.), has collected
twenty-seven instances of the notable doings of women, and Polyaenus
(Stratagemata, viii) has repeated most of them, and added almost as
many more. The latter record extends up to about 170.
[1198] Herodotus, i, 199. This applies to Babylon and Cyprus, but
there were several other places, and the custom was carried by the
Semites as far west as Sicca Veneria, in Numidia, N. Africa; Valerius
Max., ii, 6 (15). See the commentators on the passage of Herodotus;
Strabo, XVI, i, 20, etc. At all times the simplicity of devout females
was liable to be abused, several instances of which are recounted.
For example, an ancient rite ordained that a Phrygian damsel should
on the eve of her marriage bathe in the Scamander, whilst invoking
the river-god to accept her virginity. In this custom on one occasion
a youth of the neighbourhood found his opportunity. Hearing of the
nuptials of a young lady who was socially unapproachable to him, but
of whom he had long been enamoured, he bedizened himself with reeds
and water-flowers and posted himself in a recess to await her coming.
On her entering the water he came forward thus in the guise of the
divinity she was supposed to meet, and the guileless maid permitted him
to embrace her without resistance, devoutly unconscious of anything
being wrong. Subsequently, as she was walking in the bridal procession,
her eyes fell upon him among the spectators, whereupon she made him a
profound obeisance and pointed him out to those who accompanied her
as the genius of the sacred stream; Aeschines, Epist., 10. This was
an isolated and comparatively blameless case, but later on some of
the semi-Christian charlatans managed such matters wholesale; see the
account of Marcus in Irenaeus, i, 13.
[1199] Strabo, VIII, vi, 20
[1200] Athenaeus, xiii, 25. St. Augustine was of the same opinion:
“Aufer meretrices de rebus humanis, turbaveris omnia libidinibus”; De
Ordine, ii, 4 (in Migne, i, 1000).
[1201] Athenaeus, xiii, 46. Nicarete of Megara is noted as being a
disciple of Stilpo of the same town, a philosopher who achieved a great
and lasting reputation; _ibid._, 70; Diogenes Laert. in Vita, “A wife
is legally countenanced in sulking and keeping to the house, but a
hetaira knows that it is only by her social talents that she can attach
friends to herself”; Athenaeus, xiii, 7.
[1202] The names of these biographers are preserved, viz., Aristophanes
of Byzantium, Apollodorus, Antiphanes, Ammonius, and Gorgias of Athens,
but their works are lost; Athenaeus, xiii, 21, 46. The first-named
composed as many as 135 lives, and Apollodorus exceeded even this
number. The gist of their writings, however, seems to have been
preserved by Athenaeus in his thirteenth book; and among the moderns,
Jacobs has attempted to reconstruct all the principal biographies;
Attische Museum, 1798-1805. The accounts of them are almost wholly
made up of anecdotes as to their witty remarks and rejoinders. But
at least one modern author has written biographies of courtesans;
see Devaux-Mousk, Fleurs du Persil, Paris, 1887 (with portraits and
autographs).
[1203] Plutarch, Pericles, etc. At the same time it was not beneath her
to become a procuress, and it is said that all Greece was supplied with
girls by her agency. It was even maintained that the immediate cause of
the Pelopennesian war was the abduction of one of these girls imported
from Megara; Athenaeus, xiii, 25; Plutarch, _loc. cit._ Parallels to
Aspasia are not altogether wanting in very recent times. Thus of Cora
Pearl (_née_ Crouch, of Plymouth) we read: “For some time she excited
the greatest interest among all classes of Parisian society, and ladies
imitated her dress and manners”; Dict. Nat. Biog., _sb. nom._
[1204] Memorabilia, iii, 11.
[1205] Diogenes Laert., Epicurus; Cicero, De Nat. Deor., i, 33; see an
imaginary letter of hers in Alciphron, ii, 2.
[1206] Athenaeus, xiii, 37, 38, 56. Timotheus, when it was thrown
in his teeth that his mother was a prostitute, replied that he was
very much obliged to her for making him the son of Conon. The son of
Pericles by Aspasia was legitimated and became a general.
[1207] _Ibid._, 40, 38. Hieronymus, the last king of Syracuse, is said
to have married a common prostitute, but their issue did not succeed to
any crown; _ibid._ In modern times the assumption of the premiership of
Bavaria by the notorious Lola Montez (_née_ Gilbert of Limerick) will
be remembered. “She now ruled the kingdom of Bavaria, and, singular to
say, ruled it with wisdom and ability. Her audacity confounded alike
the policy of the Jesuits and of Metternich”; Dict. Nat. Biog., _sb.
nom._ Her _régime_ did not, however, last more than a year, being
unable to stem the tide of revolution in 1848. More fortunate was
the _castrato_ singer, Farinelli, who retained a position differing
little from that of prime minister under Philip V of Spain and his
successor for nearly twenty-five years. The reign of courtesans in the
seventeenth century, when the aristocratic blood of France and England
was enriched by “legitimated princes” and peers under Louis XIV and
Charles II is too well known to need comment here; but the acquisition
of governmental power at the hands of Louis XV by Jeanne Vaubernier
(Countess Du Barry), a low-class strumpet, doubtless helped decidedly
to bring that disgraceful epoch to a close; see Voltaire’s _Louis XIV_
and _Louis XV_, etc.
[1208] Athenaeus, xiii, 38; Alciphron, ii, 1.
[1209] Athenaeus, xiii, 60. Here, again, a parallel is afforded by
Cora Pearl. During the war of 1870 she transformed her house into an
“ambulance,” where she spent her time and money to the amount of £1,000
in nursing wounded soldiers. Afterwards she claimed to be reimbursed,
but £60 only was granted to her by the government; see her Mémoires,
Paris, 1886. Ultimately she was expelled from Paris.
[1210] _Ibid._, xiii, 7, 31.
[1211] _Ibid._, xiii, 70; Polyaenus, viii, 45, etc.
[1212] Athenaeus, xiii, 34.
[1213] _Ibid._, xiii, 54. A figurative memorial, a lioness tearing a
ram; Pausanias, ii, 2.
[1214] _Ibid._, xiii, 59; Aelian, Var. Hist., ix, 32. Crates, the
Cynic, said that it was an advertisement of the profligacy of Greece.
[1215] Athenaeus, xiii, 69; and another at Babylon, the seat of his
governorship. Plutarch (Phocion) says it cost about £7,000, and was
poor value for the money, but Pausanias extols it; i, 37.
[1216] Athenaeus, xiii, 34.
[1217] _Ibid._, vi, 62. Plutarch tells us that he fined the Athenians
£70,000, which he handed over to Lamia and the rest of his harem to buy
_soap_!
[1218] A _licentia stupri_ was issued to each woman by the _aediles_;
Tacitus, Ann., ii, 85.
[1219] Plutarch, Sulla.
[1220] _Ibid._, Pompey.
[1221] Plutarch, Lucullus.
[1222] In the year 19 Rome was shocked by Vistilia, a married woman of
noble birth, applying for a licence. She was banished, and a law passed
to prevent the repetition of such an occurrence; Tacitus, Ann., ii, 85.
Half a century later probably no notice would have been taken, but the
ethics of the day varied regularly with the character of the reigning
emperor.
[1223] Dion Cass., lxvi, 14. As a proof of the meanness of Vespasian,
he relates that Titus expostulated with his father on the unseemliness
of maintaining a tax on the collection of urine, whereupon the Emperor,
drawing a handful of gold from his pocket, tendered it to his son,
saying, “Smell, does it stink?” cf. Suetonius, 23.
[1224] Socrates, v, 18. The punishment of an adultress at this epoch
took the ridiculous form of impounding her in a narrow cabinet next
the street, where she was forced to prostitute herself to all comers.
Every time she received a companion a jingling of little bells was
kept up to publish the circumstance to passers by. At the same period
immense underground bakeries were run by contractors for the supply
of the Steps (see p. 81), and they hit on a remarkable expedient for
procuring slaves to work in them. Taverns served by prostitutes were
set up contiguous to the vaults; and customers, chiefly strangers, were
lured into a compartment, from which they were suddenly lowered into
the cavity beneath, by a sinking floor. There they ended their days in
enforced labour, being never again allowed to see the light. A bold
soldier of Theodosius, however, being thus entrapped, drew a dagger and
fought his way out. He then laid information, which brought about the
destruction of all such infamous dungeons; _ibid._
[1225] In the Middle Ages the absence of judicious and uniform
legislation is one of the most marked features, and in every province
the extremes of sociological phenomena are commonly to be observed.
Side by side with measures for the total abolition of prostitution we
find brothels tolerated as a regular department of royal palaces. In
1546, for example, prostitution was suppressed at Strasbourg, and at
Toulouse in 1587. On the other hand, from the eleventh century onwards,
a community of courtesans was maintained as part of the establishment
of the kings of France. They were placed in the charge of an officer,
named _le Roi des Ribauds_. His position, however, was low, and his
right to eat at the same board with the other members of the household
was disputed; see Rabutaux, La Prostitution (_au moyen âge_), Paris,
1851, ff. 16, 21, 32, 33. Again, it is well authenticated, though
almost incredible, that in the sixteenth century nobles and generals of
the south of Europe kept in the camp elegantly caparisoned goats for
amatory purposes; see Bayle, _sb._ Bathyllus.
[1226] See p. 89.
[1227] Our knowledge of these facts in detail is due to Procopius
(Anecdota or Hist. Arcana), but sufficient corroboration from other
sources is not wanting. The question as to the authenticity of this
work of Procopius has been finally set at rest by the recent researches
of Dahn and Haury. It is doubtless as true as all history in detail,
_i.e._, vitiated by prejudice, ignorance, and mistakes. The life and
literary activity of P. will be noticed later on.
[1228] Procopius, Anecdot., 10.
[1229] This was a staple piece of “gag” for centuries, and is another
instance of the uniformity of Byzantine life during long periods; see
Tertullian and Gregory Naz., as quoted by Alemannus, _op. cit._, p. 380.
[1230] See Mirecourt (Les Contemporains, Paris, 1855, 78) for an
amusing account (with portrait) of Lola Montez, and her bold procedure
in dispensing with her _maillots_, “to the delight of the gentlemen
of the orchestra,” when dancing at Paris. Some may still remember the
popularity of “the Menken,” as Mazeppa at Astley’s, the result of her
having been counselled to turn “to account her fine physique”; see Dic.
Nat. Biog., _sb. nom._, for her career and distinguished associates.
Her apology, protesting against the performance being denounced as an
exhibition of nakedness, was published, and is extant. This hetaira
approached somewhat to her Greek prototypes, and issued a volume of
poems, which, if not equal to Sappho’s, had a merit of their own. The
same significance cannot, however, be attached to such displays as at
the present day. The indiscriminate bathing was only just passing into
disrepute, and ingenuous exhibitions of that kind were still possible.
See, for instance, Aristaenetus (i, 7), where a “modest” young lady
trips down to the beach, coolly divests herself of her clothing, and
asks a young gentleman, who happens to be reclining there, to keep an
eye on her things while she is in the water. This author, waiting _c._
500, could scarcely have deemed such an incident preposterous in his
time. As to naked women in the theatre, in addition to the notices
already given from Chrysostom, see In Matth. Hom. xix, 4 (in Migne,
viii, 120).
[1231] Her proceedings are described by Procopius, with the openness
and detail which was natural to the age in which he lived. For this,
however, he has been censured, to the damage of his historical credit,
as if he thereby proved himself to be a dissolute person, unusually
experienced in the vices of the times. But the charge is unjust, and
might be urged with greater force against almost all of the Christian
fathers who continually inveigh against abuses of the sexual instinct,
in the intricacies of which they show themselves to be far better
versed. Beginning with the Epistle of Barnabas they never tire of
decrying circumstantially all sexual relations, especially those
who “medios viros lambunt, libidinoso ore inguinibus inhaerescunt”;
Minucius Felix, 28; cf. Arnobius, Adv. Gen., ii; Lactantius, Div.
Inst., vi, 23, etc. Their rigid text is “genitalem corporis partem
nulla alia causa nisi efficiendae sobolis accepimus”; _ibid._ Nor was
it regarded as proper that the knowledge and discussion of such matters
should be ordinarily thrust out of sight; on the contrary they were
included in the category of topics habitually invested with interest to
“society.” Thus the polished Agathias in an amatory epigram (28), after
lamenting the pangs and torments of love, makes his point with:
Πάντ’ ἄρα Διογένης ἔφυγεν τάδε, τὸν δ’ Ὑμέναιον
ἤειδεν παλάμῃ, Λαΐδος οὐ χατέων.
This graphic effusion duly found its place in that book of “elegant
extracts,” compiled for the delectation of the Byzantine drawing-room,
the Greek Anthology, where it remains enshrined amid a crowd of
companions, at least ten times as remote as itself from modern ideas of
decency.
[1232] One example of her unusual turpitude may be reproduced. After
enlivening a party of ten or more young men for a whole evening,
she “παρὰ τοὺς ἐκείνων οἰκέτας ἰοῦσα τριάκοντα ὄντας ἂν οὕτω τύχοι,
ξυνεδυαζετο μὲν τούτων ἑκάστῳ”; Procopius, Anecdot., 9. Unconsciously
she was emulating the activities of the Empress Messalina five
centuries previously:
Claudius audi
Quae tulerit: dormire virum cum senserat uxor ...
Intravit calidum veteri centone lupanar ...
Excepit blanda intrantes, atque aera poposcit:
Mox lenone suas jam dimittente puellas,
Tristis abit; etc.
Juvenal, Sat. vi, 115, _et seq._
Pliny discusses her proclivities in the inquiring mood of a
physiologist; Hist. Nat., x, 83.
[1233] This is in direct opposition to the established views of
Byzantine superstition; see p. 119.
[1234] The age of Theodora is nowhere mentioned, but Ludewig and
Isambert favour 497. Nicephorus Cal. (xvi, 39) says that she was
born in Cyprus, an assertion which cannot be contradicted, but which
is, on the whole unlikely, and some of his collateral statements are
erroneous. The following information _pour rire_ has found its way
into so considerable a work as Hefner-Altneck’s Trachten: “Theodora
was the daughter of Acacius, Patriarch of CP., and was trained by
her mother (!) for the theatre, in which she distinguished herself
by her art as a pantomimist”; i, p. 124. The Patriarch Acacius was
doubtless a celibate. The whitewashing of Theodora has, of course, been
undertaken, but late, not till 1731, by Ludewig. She was, in fact, in
bad odour with the Church, and the worst that could be said of her
was acceptable. Recently a further attempt has been made by Débidour
(L’Impératrice Theodora, Paris, 1885, Latin Thesis, 1877), called forth
by Sardou’s well-known play of _Theodora_, in which she is undoubtedly
misrepresented. A pendant to this _brochure_, containing all the facts
of the defence, will be found in Eng. Hist. Rev., 1887 (Mallet).
Present flatterers were, of course, ready to swear that she was an
Anician! See p. 308.
[1235] Procopius, Anecdot., 10, 17. His horror at the practice of
abortion teaches us that a great revulsion of public sentiment must
have taken place since the time of Aristotle, who counsels resorting to
it when over-population is threatened; Politics, vii, 16.
[1236] Procopius, Anecdot., 17.
[1237] _Ibid._, 9.
[1238] Codinus, p. 104 (Anon. of Banduri). This information dates from
the early part of the eleventh century, but must have been copied from
some earlier document. It is in general agreement with Procopius,
Anecdot., 9.
[1239] Socrates, iv, 28. The Novation purists made great headway there;
_ibid._, ii, 30, etc.
[1240] Contiguous to the church of St. Panteleemon, which stood on the
Propontis to the east of the Theodosian Port; see Notitia, reg. ix and
Ducange _sb. Homonoea_. The suburban St. P. is said to be indicated by
ruins still existing at the foot of the “Giant’s Grave,” on the Asiatic
side of the Bosphorus; see Gyllius, De Bosp., iii, 6; Procop., etc.,
Notitia, reg. ix; Ducange, _sb. Homonoea_; Procopius, De Aedific., i, 9.
[1241] Codinus, _loc. cit._
[1242] Procopius, Anecdot., 9.
[1243] _Ibid._, 10. He allows that she was sufficiently well looking,
but he also states that her countenance was disfigured by debauchery;
_ibid._, 9. At a later date he praises her beauty as something almost
superhuman, but this was intended for the eyes of the Court; De
Aedific., i, 11.
[1244] In natural gifts she may have had some resemblance to Cleopatra;
see Shakespeare’s presentation of the latter:
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety, etc.
Act ii, 2.
[1245] Procopius, Anecdot., 9; cf. John of Ephesus, Com. de Beat.
Orient. (Van Douven and Land), p. 68, where the words occur, “ad
Theodoram τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πορνείου, quae illo tempore patricia erat.” She
is often mentioned in this work in a laudatory strain, with which
this sentence, as Diehl (_op. cit._) forcibly observes, is decidedly
incongruous. Probably, therefore, it has been introduced by a copyist,
but of what date I cannot surmise.
[1246] Probably she now took up her residence in the palace of
Hormisdas; see pp. 37, 309.
[1247] As shown by subsequent events; Theophanes, an. 6019; Victor
Ton., an. 566; Jn. Malala, xviii, p. 430; _ib._, an. 6020.
[1248] Her position was now very similar to that of Caenis under
Vespasian; see p. 336.
[1249] See p. 108.
[1250] Procopius, Anecdot., 10; the law itself, Cod., V, iv, 23 (De
Nuptiis). This relaxation, however, was quite in accordance with the
development of Christian sentiment. Thus Chrysostom expresses it:
“Inflamed by this fire (Christian repentance) the prostitute becomes
holier than virgins”; In Matth. viii, Hom. vi, 5 (in Migne, vii, 69).
[1251] Procopius, Anecdot., 9. The spurious life by Theophilus (see
p. 320) tells us also that Justinian’s mother, her name Biglenitza
(Vigilantia), opposed the marriage, not on account of unchastity, but
because Theodora was too clever and addicted to magic, etc. There is no
historical mention of this Vigilantia.
[1252] _Ibid._, 10.
[1253] Jn. Malala, xvii, etc.
[1254] According to Michael the Syrian, Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch,
Theodora was the daughter of an “orthodox” (_i.e._, Monophysite)
priest, who would not part with his daughter until Justinian had
pledged his word not to coerce her to conform to Chalcedon! See
Chabot’s trans. from the Syriac, 1901, ix, 20. She built St. P. (p.
344) on the site of her chaste pre-nuptial life.
[1255] Procopius, Anecdot., 1. Aimoin (Hist. Franc., ii, 5), a western
author of the eleventh century, but in great part fabulous, relates
that Belisarius and Justinian entered a brothel and chose there two
prostitutes, Antonina and _Antonia_, sisters, whom they subsequently
married. If this is not merely loose hearsay emanating originally
from a reader of Procopius, it shows the sort of stories which were
popularly current on the subject. Although the anecdote is scarcely
far-fetched, it is rendered impossible by the fact that the ages of the
two men differed by something like a score of years.
[1256] Later we hear from Procopius (De Bel. Goth., i, 5) that in 535
he had just become old enough to receive a separate command in the
army; which probably indicates that he had then attained to the age of
eighteen, the period when a young Roman was freed from his guardian
(_curator_) and became _sui juris_. About nine years earlier (_c._ 526,
De Bel. Pers., i, 12) Belisarius is referred to in very similar terms,
so that the relative ages of these two characters can be determined
with tolerable accuracy. Belisarius was then “πρῶτος ὑπηνήτης.”
[1257] Antonina and her son Photius are personages almost peculiar
to Procopius and do not come to light noticeably in the ordinary
chronographers.
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