without further struggles: Ravenna alone sustained a siege of more than three years; but at length Odoacer capitulated (A. D. 493), and was soon after assassinated at a solemn banquet by his rival.

Theodoric secured his conquest by distributing one third of the lands of Italy to his soldiers in military tenures. This partition was effected with very little violence to the ancient possessors; the Goths were instructed to spare the people, to reverence the laws, and to lay aside their barbarous customs of judicial combats and private revenge. The Gothic sovereignty was soon extended from Sicily to the Danube, and from Sirmium (Sirmich) to the Atlantic ocean; thus including the fairest portion of the Western Empire. The monarch of this new kingdom showed great wisdom and moderation in his civil government, but unfortunately his attachment to the Arian heresy led him to persecute the Catholics. The legal murder of the philosopher Boethius and he venerable Symmachus were crimes which admit of no palliation; they hastened Theodoric's death, for remorse brought him to the grave in the thirty-third year of his reign (A. D. 526).

SECTION II.-Reign of Justinian.

A DACIAN peasant, named Justin, who had travelled on foot to Constantinople in the reign of the emperor Leo, enlisted in the imperial guards, and, during the succeeding reigns, so distinguished himself by his strength and valor, that he was gradually raised to the command of the household troops. On the death of the emperor Anastasius, the eunuch Amantius, anxious to secure the throne for one of his creatures, intrusted Justin with a large sum of money to bribe the guards; but he used it to purchase votes for himself, and was thus elevated to the empire (A. D. 518). Totally ignorant himself, Justin was not insensible of the value of education; he made his nephew Justinian his associate in the empire; and as this prince had been instructed in all the learning of the times, he soon obtained the whole power of the state.

After the death of Justin (A. D. 527), Justinian ruled alone; but his first exercise of authority fixed a lasting stigma on his reign. He chose for his empress, Theodora, a woman of mean birth and infamous character, whose vices had disgusted even a capital so licentious as Constantinople. Among the most singular and disgraceful follies of the Eastern Empire were the factions of the circus, which arose from the colors worn by the charioteers who competed for the prize of swiftness. Green and blue were the most remarkable for their inveterate hostility though white and red were the most ancient; all, however, soon acquired a legal existence, and the Byzantines willingly hazarded life and fortune to suppor: their favorite color. Justinian was a partisan of the blues; his favor toward them provoked the hostility of the opposite faction, and led to a sedition which almost laid Constantinople in ashes. The disturbances first burst forth in the circus; Justinian ordered the rioters to be secured; both factions immediately turned against the monarch, the soldiers were called out, but they were unable to contend against the citizens in the narrow streets. Assailed from the tops of the houses, the barbarian mercenaries flung firebrands in revenge, and shus kindled a dreadful conflagration, which destroyed a vast number

of public and private edifices. After the city had been for several days in the hands of the rioters, Justinian contrived to revive the ancient animosity between the greens and blues; the latter faction declared for the emperor, a strong body of veterans marched to the Hippodrome, or race-course, and tranquillity was restored by the slaughter of thirty thousand of the insurgents. While the internal state of the empire was thus disturbed by faction, a costly and unprofitable war was waged against the Persians, until the emperor purchased a disgraceful and precarious truce, which both he and his rival chose to designate as an endless peace.

The usurpation of the throne of the Vandals in Africa by Gelimer, who owed his success chiefly to the support of the Arian clergy, induced Justinian to undertake a war, in which he appeared both the generous friend of an allied sovereign and the protector of the Catholic faith. Belisarius, the best general of his age, was appointed to the command of the imperial forces, and a large fleet was assembled for the transport of the army in the harbor of Constantinople (A. D. 533). After the armament had been blessed by the patriarch it set sail; and, after a prosperous voyage, Belisarius effected a landing on the coast of Africa without opposition. He advanced toward Carthage, defeating the Vandals on his march, and became master of the city with little opposition. Gelimer made one effort more to save his kingdom; it was unsuccessful, his army was irretrievably ruined, and he was closely besieged in the castle where he sought refuge. The unfortunate king, after having borne the most dreadful extremities of famine, was forced to surrender unconditionally; he was carried captive to Constantinople, where he was led in the triumphal procession that honored the return of Belisarius. The dethroned monarch showed no sorrow for his fall, but consoled himself by Solomon's reflection on the instability of human greatness, frequently repeating. "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity."

The murder of Amalasontha, queen of the Goths, by her ungrateful husband Theodatus, afforded Belisarius a pretext for attacking the kingdom of Italy. He sailed from Constantinople to Sicily, and easily conquered that important island (A. D. 535). Theodatus, in great terror, hasted to avert danger, by declaring himself the vassal of Justinian; but hearing in the meantime that two Byzantine generals had been defeated in Dalmatia by the Gothic troops, he passed suddenly from extreme despair to the height of presumption, and withdrew his allegiance. Belisarius soon appeared to chastise his perfidy; he transported his army across the Sicilian strait, and effected a landing at Rhegium (Reggio). The greater part of southern Italy, including the important city of Naples, was speedily subdued by the imperial forces; while Theodatus, secure within the walls of Rome, made no effort to protect his subjects. At length the Goths, disgusted by the incapacity and weakness of their sovereign, removed him from the throne, and chose the valiant Vitiges for their king. But Vitiges was forced to commence his reign by abandoning Rome, of which Belisarius took possession without encountering any opposition (A. D. 537). During the ensuing winter, the Goths assembled from every quarter to save, if possible, their kingdom in Italy: a powerful army, animated by dauntless spirit,

was soon collected, and Vitiges led his followers to the siege of Rome. Belisarius concentrated his forces in the Eternal city, which was de. fended with equal skill and bravery; but famine soon appeared within the walls, and the citizens became anxious for a capitulation. A conspiracy was formed under the sanction of the pope, Sylverius, for betraying the city to the Goths; but it was discovered by an intercepted letter. Belisarius sent Sylverius into banishment, and ordered the bishops to elect a new pontiff: before however a synod could be assembled for the purpose, the general's wife, the infamous Antonina, sold the Holy See to Vigilus for a bribe of two hundred pounds weight of gold. Reinforcements soon after arrived from the east, and the Goths were forced to raise the siege of Rome, having lost one third of their number before its walls. Belisarius pursued the retreating enemy to the marshes of Ravenna, and would probably have captured that city, but for the jealousy of the eunuch Narses, whom Justinian had intrusted with the independent command of a large division of the Byzantine army. Though the differences between the two leaders were finally adjusted, the Goths had taken advantage of the interval to collect new strength; and ten thousand Burgundians, sent to invade Italy by the command of Theodobert, king of the Franks, had stormed and plundered Milan. Soon after, Theodobert passed the Alps in person at the head of one hundred thousand men. The Franks stormed Genoa, and devastated Liguria; but their excesses brought pestilence into their camp, they perished by thousands and Theodobert was induced, by his increasing distresses, to enter into terms of accommodation with the emperor. Delivered from this pressing danger, Belisarius laid siege to Ravenna, which was forced to capitulate (A. D. 539); and thus the Gothic kingdom of Italy was destroyed.

Belisarius returned to Constantinople in triumph, leading with him the captive Vitiges; he was sent to conduct the Persian war, but was scon recalled and disgraced by the ungrateful Justinian. While the conquests of Belisarius were restoring the western provinces to the empire, barbarous hordes ravaged, almost with impunity, the northeastern frontiers. Unable or unwilling to meet the Gepida in the field, Justinian entered into alliance with the Longobardi or Lombards (so called from their long barts or lances), who had just thrown off the yoke of the Heruli, and gave them settlements in Pannonia. A war of forty years' duration, between the Lombards and Gepidæ, protected the empire from the invasions of both hordes; but it was still exposed to the incursions of the Sclavonians and Bulgarians, who annually purchased a passage through the territories of the Gepida, and extended their inroads even into southern Greece. Commotions in the remote east brought Europeans, about this time, acquainted with new and more formidable races of barbarians, the Avars and the Turks, whose importance may justify a short digression on their origin.

The Avars, from an unknown age, possessed the mountains and deserts that border on the lake Baikal in northeastern Asia. Thence they advanced southward under a monarch named Túlún, and extended their empire to the eastern sea, which separates Corea from Japan. The conqueror took the title of Chakan or Chagan, a name still used on the wins of the Turkish sultan. But the prosperity of the Avars was

not of long duration; they were assailed by rival tribes from the north and at the same time harassed by civil wars; while thus distressed, they were attacked by a new horde, called Thiúkhiú by the Chinese writers, but known to the Europeans as the Turks. The Avars were overthrown by these new competitors for empire, and their power totally destroyed; but their name was taken by a new nation, the Ogors or Varchonites, who after being defeated by the Turks, migrated toward Europe by the route of the Volga. They chose the false designation, because the name of the Avars was still formidable, and they preserved it on account of the terror which they saw it produced.

The Turks first appear in history as the slaves of the original Avars; they inhabited the great Altaian mountains, and were engaged in working the mines and attending the forges of those rich mineral districts Their skill in fabricating armor and weapons was very great, and they prided themselves upon the excellence of their manufactures so much, that, when they became lords of eastern Asia, their Khakans annually forged a piece of iron in the presence of the heads of the nation. Under the guidance of Thú-men, they asserted their independence, and made slaves of their former masters. So rapid was their progress, that during the reigns of Thú-men and his successor Dizabúl, their empire was extended from the Volga to the sea of Japan. They were thus brought to the frontiers of the Byzantine and Persian dominions, and engaged in commercial relations with both, by their occupation of the countries through which the silk-trade was carried.

The great rival of Justinian was Chosroes or Nushírván, the most celebrated Persian monarch of the Sassanid dynasty; in the early part of his reign he won the affection of his subjects, by extirpating the pernicious system of policy and religion which his predecessor Kobad, seduced by an impostor named Mazdak, had patronised. His next care was to give confidence to the laboring classes by judicious laws securing the rights of industry, and by a sedulous attention to the administration of justice. Having thus secured the tranquillity and prosperity of Persia, he directed his attention to the favorite project of the Sassanides, the re-establishment of the empire of Cyrus, and perceiving that the forces of Justinian were engaged in the west, invaded Syria, at the head of a powerful army (A. D. 540). His victorious career was checked for a brief space by Belisarius, but after the recall and disgrace of that general, he urged forward his conquests with alarming rapidity. Justinian, in his distress, repented of his ingratitude; Belisarius was restored to command, and by his judicious exertions, Nushírván was forced to return across the Euphrates, loaded, however, with the spoils of western Asia. His next enterprise was the conquest of the Caucasian districts inhabited by the Lazi, the Colchians, and other semi-barbarous tribes which the Byzantines struggled to prevent, and this led to the tedious Lazic war, in which the strength of both empires was uselessly wasted. In consequence of the Persian war, Justinian entered into a treaty with the Abyssinians, whose monarch had subdued the greater part of Arabia, in the expectation of opening, by his means, a naval communication with China and India; but the design was fr.strated by the reluctance of the Ethiopian monarch to engage in a doubtful contest with the power of Persia.

The provinces of Africa and Italy, acquired by the valor of Belisarius, were nearly lost by the incapacity and tyranny of his successors. Their weakness provoked the Moors to take arms; and, though these barbarians were finally reduced, the African province was changed from a fertile and populous country into a savage and silent desert. Still more dangerous was the revolt of the Goths under the gallant Totila (A. D. 541), who in a very brief space recovered the greater part of Italy. Finding his generals successively defeated, Justinian sent Belisarius to the theatre of his former glory; but he neglected to supply the hero with sufficient forces; and Rome was captured by Tetila, almost in sight of the imperial army. The city was recovered soon after, and the old general gained some advantages over Totila; but finding himself unsupponed, he solicited permission to return, and departed from Italy disgraced, not so much by his failure, as by the plunder he had permitted Antonina to extort from those he was sent to defend (A. D. 548). Totila, after the departure of Belisarius, again made himself master of Rome, but the maritime cities of Italy resisted his ssaults, and supported the imperial interests until the eunuch Narses was sent into the peninsula (A. D. 552).

Justinian granted to this favorite what he had denied to Belisarius, a competent supply of the munitions of war; allies were entreated to send contingents, and mercenaries were hired from the principal barbarous tribes. Thus supplied, the eunuch eagerly sought to bring the Goths to an engagement; but Totila showed equal ardor for the combat, and the hostile forces soon met in the vicinity of Rome. In the very commencement of the battle the Gothic cavalry, hurried forward by their impetuosity, advanced so far beyond their infantry, that they were surrounded and cut to pieces before they could receive assistance. Totila, hasting with a chosen troop to remedy the disorder, was struck to the earth mortally wounded, and his followers instantly fled in confusion. Rome opened its gates to the conquerors; but the imperial forces, especially the barbarian mercenaries, treated the city more cruelly than the Gothic conquerors had done, and inflicted on the citizens the mingled horror of lust, rapine, and murder. The bravest of the Cloths retired, after their defeat, beyond the Po, and chose Teias for their king. War was of course renewed; but in a fierce battle, which lasted two entire days, Teias was slain, and the power of the Ostrogoths irretrievably ruined. Narses had scarcely time to recover from the fatigues of this campaign, when he was summoned to repel an invasion of the Franks and Allemans; he routed them with great slaughter; and then returning to Rome, gratified its citizens by the semblance of a triumph. Italy was thus reduced to a Byzantine province, governed by the exarchs of Ravenna; and Narses himself, the first and most powerful of the exarchs, governe l the whole peninsula for fifteen years.

In the meantime Belisarius had been summoned to defend the empire from the dangers with which it was menaced, by an invasion of the Bulgarians. He gained a decisive victory over the barbarians, but was prevented from improving his advantages by the intrigues of the courtiers. The Bulgarians were induced to return beyond the Danube, by the payment of a large ransom for their captives; and Justinian