text:
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 4, by Edward Gibbon, [1788], at sacred-texts.com
Elevation Of Justin The Elder. - Reign Of Justinian. - I. The Empress Theodora. - II. Factions Of The Circus, And Sedition Of Constantinople. - III. Trade And Manufacture Of Silk. - IV. Finances And Taxes. - V. Edifices Of Justinian. - Church Of St. Sophia. - Fortifications And Frontiers Of The Eastern Empire. - Abolition Of The Schools Of Athens, And The Consulship Of Rome.
The emperor Justinian was born 1 near the ruins of Sardica, (the modern Sophia,) of an obscure race 2 of Barbarians, 3 the inhabitants of a wild and desolate country, to which the names of Dardania, of Dacia, and of Bulgaria, have been successively applied. His elevation was prepared by the adventurous spirit of his uncle Justin, who, with two other peasants of the same village, deserted, for the profession of arms, the more useful employment of husbandmen or shepherds. 4 On foot, with a scanty provision of biscuit in their knapsacks, the three youths followed the high road of Constantinople, and were soon enrolled, for their strength and stature, among the guards of the emperor Leo. Under the two succeeding reigns, the fortunate peasant emerged to wealth and honors; and his escape from some dangers which threatened his life was afterwards ascribed to the guardian angel who watches over the fate of kings. His long and laudable service in the Isaurian and Persian wars would not have preserved from oblivion the name of Justin; yet they might warrant the military promotion, which in the course of fifty years he gradually obtained; the rank of tribune, of count, and of general; the dignity of senator, and the command of the guards, who obeyed him as their chief, at the important crisis when the emperor Anastasius was removed from the world. The powerful kinsmen whom he had raised and enriched were excluded from the throne; and the eunuch Amantius, who reigned in the palace, had secretly resolved to fix the diadem on the head of the most obsequious of his creatures. A liberal donative, to conciliate the suffrage of the guards, was intrusted for that purpose in the hands of their commander. But these weighty arguments were treacherously employed by Justin in his own favor; and as no competitor presumed to appear, the Dacian peasant was invested with the purple by the unanimous consent of the soldiers, who knew him to be brave and gentle, of the clergy and people, who believed him to be orthodox, and of the provincials, who yielded a blind and implicit submission to the will of the capital. The elder Justin, as he is distinguished from another emperor of the same family and name, ascended the Byzantine throne at the age of sixty-eight years; and, had he been left to his own guidance, every moment of a nine years' reign must have exposed to his subjects the impropriety of their choice. His ignorance was similar to that of Theodoric; and it is remarkable that in an age not destitute of learning, two contemporary monarchs had never been instructed in the knowledge of the alphabet. *_0007 But the genius of Justin was far inferior to that of the Gothic king: the experience of a soldier had not qualified him for the government of an empire; and though personally brave, the consciousness of his own weakness was naturally attended with doubt, distrust, and political apprehension. But the official business of the state was diligently and faithfully transacted by the quaestor Proclus; 5 and the aged emperor adopted the talents and ambition of his nephew Justinian, an aspiring youth, whom his uncle had drawn from the rustic solitude of Dacia, and educated at Constantinople, as the heir of his private fortune, and at length of the Eastern empire.
Since the eunuch Amantius had been defrauded of his money, it became necessary to deprive him of his life. The task was easily accomplished by the charge of a real or fictitious conspiracy; and the judges were informed, as an accumulation of guilt, that he was secretly addicted to the Manichaean heresy. 6 Amantius lost his head; three of his companions, the first domestics of the palace, were punished either with death or exile; and their unfortunate candidate for the purple was cast into a deep dungeon, overwhelmed with stones, and ignominiously thrown, without burial, into the sea. The ruin of Vitalian was a work of more difficulty and danger. That Gothic chief had rendered himself popular by the civil war which he boldly waged against Anastasius for the defence of the orthodox faith, and after the conclusion of an advantageous treaty, he still remained in the neighborhood of Constantinople at the head of a formidable and victorious army of Barbarians. By the frail security of oaths, he was tempted to relinquish this advantageous situation, and to trust his person within the walls of a city, whose inhabitants, particularly the blue faction, were artfully incensed against him by the remembrance even of his pious hostilities. The emperor and his nephew embraced him as the faithful and worthy champion of the church and state; and gratefully adorned their favorite with the titles of consul and general; but in the seventh month of his consulship, Vitalian was stabbed with seventeen wounds at the royal banquet; 7 and Justinian, who inherited the spoil, was accused as the assassin of a spiritual brother, to whom he had recently pledged his faith in the participation of the Christian mysteries. 8 After the fall of his rival, he was promoted, without any claim of military service, to the office of master-general of the Eastern armies, whom it was his duty to lead into the field against the public enemy. But, in the pursuit of fame, Justinian might have lost his present dominion over the age and weakness of his uncle; and instead of acquiring by Scythian or Persian trophies the applause of his countrymen, 9 the prudent warrior solicited their favor in the churches, the circus, and the senate, of Constantinople. The Catholics were attached to the nephew of Justin, who, between the Nestorian and Eutychian heresies, trod the narrow path of inflexible and intolerant orthodoxy. 10 In the first days of the new reign, he prompted and gratified the popular enthusiasm against the memory of the deceased emperor. After a schism of thirty-four years, he reconciled the proud and angry spirit of the Roman pontiff, and spread among the Latins a favorable report of his pious respect for the apostolic see. The thrones of the East were filled with Catholic bishops, devoted to his interest, the clergy and the monks were gained by his liberality, and the people were taught to pray for their future sovereign, the hope and pillar of the true religion. The magnificence of Justinian was displayed in the superior pomp of his public spectacles, an object not less sacred and important in the eyes of the multitude than the creed of Nice or Chalcedon: the expense of his consulship was esteemed at two hundred and twenty-eight thousand pieces of gold; twenty lions, and thirty leopards, were produced at the same time in the amphitheatre, and a numerous train of horses, with their rich trappings, was bestowed as an extraordinary gift on the victorious charioteers of the circus. While he indulged the people of Constantinople, and received the addresses of foreign kings, the nephew of Justin assiduously cultivated the friendship of the senate. That venerable name seemed to qualify its members to declare the sense of the nation, and to regulate the succession of the Imperial throne: the feeble Anastasius had permitted the vigor of government to degenerate into the form or substance of an aristocracy; and the military officers who had obtained the senatorial rank were followed by their domestic guards, a band of veterans, whose arms or acclamations might fix in a tumultuous moment the diadem of the East. The treasures of the state were lavished to procure the voices of the senators, and their unanimous wish, that he would be pleased to adopt Justinian for his colleague, was communicated to the emperor. But this request, which too clearly admonished him of his approaching end, was unwelcome to the jealous temper of an aged monarch, desirous to retain the power which he was incapable of exercising; and Justin, holding his purple with both his hands, advised them to prefer, since an election was so profitable, some older candidate. Not withstanding this reproach, the senate proceeded to decorate Justinian with the royal epithet of nobilissimus; and their decree was ratified by the affection or the fears of his uncle. After some time the languor of mind and body, to which he was reduced by an incurable wound in his thigh, indispensably required the aid of a guardian. He summoned the patriarch and senators; and in their presence solemnly placed the diadem on the head of his nephew, who was conducted from the palace to the circus, and saluted by the loud and joyful applause of the people. The life of Justin was prolonged about four months; but from the instant of this ceremony, he was considered as dead to the empire, which acknowledged Justinian, in the forty-fifth year of his age, for the lawful sovereign of the East. 11
From his elevation to his death, Justinian governed the Roman empire thirty-eight years, seven months, and thirteen days. The events of his reign, which excite our curious attention by their number, variety, and importance, are diligently related by the secretary of Belisarius, a rhetorician, whom eloquence had promoted to the rank of senator and praefect of Constantinople. According to the vicissitudes of courage or servitude, of favor or disgrace, Procopius 12 successively composed the history, the panegyric, and the satire of his own times. The eight books of the Persian, Vandalic, and Gothic wars, 13 which are continued in the five books of Agathias, deserve our esteem as a laborious and successful imitation of the Attic, or at least of the Asiatic, writers of ancient Greece. His facts are collected from the personal experience and free conversation of a soldier, a statesman, and a traveller; his style continually aspires, and often attains, to the merit of strength and elegance; his reflections, more especially in the speeches, which he too frequently inserts, contain a rich fund of political knowledge; and the historian, excited by the generous ambition of pleasing and instructing posterity, appears to disdain the prejudices of the people, and the flattery of courts. The writings of Procopius 14 were read and applauded by his contemporaries: 15 but, although he respectfully laid them at the foot of the throne, the pride of Justinian must have been wounded by the praise of a hero, who perpetually eclipses the glory of his inactive sovereign. The conscious dignity of independence was subdued by the hopes and fears of a slave; and the secretary of Belisarius labored for pardon and reward in the six books of the Imperial edifices. He had dexterously chosen a subject of apparent splendor, in which he could loudly celebrate the genius, the magnificence, and the piety of a prince, who, both as a conqueror and legislator, had surpassed the puerile virtues of Themistocles and Cyrus. 16 Disappointment might urge the flatterer to secret revenge; and the first glance of favor might again tempt him to suspend and suppress a libel, 17 in which the Roman Cyrus is degraded into an odious and contemptible tyrant, in which both the emperor and his consort Theodora are seriously represented as two daemons, who had assumed a human form for the destruction of mankind. 18 Such base inconsistency must doubtless sully the reputation, and detract from the credit, of Procopius: yet, after the venom of his malignity has been suffered to exhale, the residue of the anecdotes, even the most disgraceful facts, some of which had been tenderly hinted in his public history, are established by their internal evidence, or the authentic monuments of the times. 19 *_0008 From these various materials, I shall now proceed to describe the reign of Justinian, which will deserve and occupy an ample space. The present chapter will explain the elevation and character of Theodora, the factions of the circus, and the peaceful administration of the sovereign of the East. In the three succeeding chapters, I shall relate the wars of Justinian, which achieved the conquest of Africa and Italy; and I shall follow the victories of Belisarius and Narses, without disguising the vanity of their triumphs, or the hostile virtue of the Persian and Gothic heroes. The series of this and the following volume will embrace the jurisprudence and theology of the emperor; the controversies and sects which still divide the Oriental church; the reformation of the Roman law which is obeyed or respected by the nations of modern Europe.
I. In the exercise of supreme power, the first act of Justinian was to divide it with the woman whom he loved, the famous Theodora, 20 whose strange elevation cannot be applauded as the triumph of female virtue. Under the reign of Anastasius, the care of the wild beasts maintained by the green faction at Constantinople was intrusted to Acacius, a native of the Isle of Cyprus, who, from his employment, was surnamed the master of the bears. This honorable office was given after his death to another candidate, notwithstanding the diligence of his widow, who had already provided a husband and a successor. Acacius had left three daughters, Comito, 21 Theodora, and Anastasia, the eldest of whom did not then exceed the age of seven years. On a solemn festival, these helpless orphans were sent by their distressed and indignant mother, in the garb of suppliants, into the midst of the theatre: the green faction received them with contempt, the blues with compassion; and this difference, which sunk deep into the mind of Theodora, was felt long afterwards in the administration of the empire. As they improved in age and beauty, the three sisters were successively devoted to the public and private pleasures of the Byzantine people: and Theodora, after following Comito on the stage, in the dress of a slave, with a stool on her head, was at length permitted to exercise her independent talents. She neither danced, nor sung, nor played on the flute; her skill was confined to the pantomime arts; she excelled in buffoon characters, and as often as the comedian swelled her cheeks, and complained with a ridiculous tone and gesture of the blows that were inflicted, the whole theatre of Constantinople resounded with laughter and applause. The beauty of Theodora 22 was the subject of more flattering praise, and the source of more exquisite delight. Her features were delicate and regular; her complexion, though somewhat pale, was tinged with a natural color; every sensation was instantly expressed by the vivacity of her eyes; her easy motions displayed the graces of a small but elegant figure; and either love or adulation might proclaim, that painting and poetry were incapable of delineating the matchless excellence of her form. But this form was degraded by the facility with which it was exposed to the public eye, and prostituted to licentious desire. Her venal charms were abandoned to a promiscuous crowd of citizens and strangers of every rank, and of every profession: the fortunate lover who had been promised a night of enjoyment, was often driven from her bed by a stronger or more wealthy favorite; and when she passed through the streets, her presence was avoided by all who wished to escape either the scandal or the temptation. The satirical historian has not blushed 23 to describe the naked scenes which Theodora was not ashamed to exhibit in the theatre. 24 After exhausting the arts of sensual pleasure, 25 she most ungratefully murmured against the parsimony of Nature; 26 *_0009 but her murmurs, her pleasures, and her arts, must be veiled in the obscurity of a learned language. After reigning for some time, the delight and contempt of the capital, she condescended to accompany Ecebolus, a native of Tyre, who had obtained the government of the African Pentapolis. But this union was frail and transient; Ecebolus soon rejected an expensive or faithless concubine; she was reduced at Alexandria to extreme distress; and in her laborious return to Constantinople, every city of the East admired and enjoyed the fair Cyprian, whose merit appeared to justify her descent from the peculiar island of Venus. The vague commerce of Theodora, and the most detestable precautions, preserved her from the danger which she feared; yet once, and once only, she became a mother. The infant was saved and educated in Arabia, by his father, who imparted to him on his death-bed, that he was the son of an empress. Filled with ambitious hopes, the unsuspecting youth immediately hastened to the palace of Constantinople, and was admitted to the presence of his mother. As he was never more seen, even after the decease of Theodora, she deserves the foul imputation of extinguishing with his life a secret so offensive to her Imperial virtue.
In the most abject state of her fortune, and reputation, some vision, either of sleep or of fancy, had whispered to Theodora the pleasing assurance that she was destined to become the spouse of a potent monarch. Conscious of her approaching greatness, she returned from Paphlagonia to Constantinople; assumed, like a skilful actress, a more decent character; relieved her poverty by the laudable industry of spinning wool; and affected a life of chastity and solitude in a small house, which she afterwards changed into a magnificent temple. 27 Her beauty, assisted by art or accident, soon attracted, captivated, and fixed, the patrician Justinian, who already reigned with absolute sway under the name of his uncle. Perhaps she contrived to enhance the value of a gift which she had so often lavished on the meanest of mankind; perhaps she inflamed, at first by modest delays, and at last by sensual allurements, the desires of a lover, who, from nature or devotion, was addicted to long vigils and abstemious diet. When his first transports had subsided, she still maintained the same ascendant over his mind, by the more solid merit of temper and understanding. Justinian delighted to ennoble and enrich the object of his affection; the treasures of the East were poured at her feet, and the nephew of Justin was determined, perhaps by religious scruples, to bestow on his concubine the sacred and legal character of a wife. But the laws of Rome expressly prohibited the marriage of a senator with any female who had been dishonored by a servile origin or theatrical profession: the empress Lupicina, or Euphemia, a Barbarian of rustic manners, but of irreproachable virtue, refused to accept a prostitute for her niece; and even Vigilantia, the superstitious mother of Justinian, though she acknowledged the wit and beauty of Theodora, was seriously apprehensive, lest the levity and arrogance of that artful paramour might corrupt the piety and happiness of her son. These obstacles were removed by the inflexible constancy of Justinian. He patiently expected the death of the empress; he despised the tears of his mother, who soon sunk under the weight of her affliction; and a law was promulgated in the name of the emperor Justin, which abolished the rigid jurisprudence of antiquity. A glorious repentance (the words of the edict) was left open for the unhappy females who had prostituted their persons on the theatre, and they were permitted to contract a legal union with the most illustrious of the Romans. 28 This indulgence was speedily followed by the solemn nuptials of Justinian and Theodora; her dignity was gradually exalted with that of her lover, and, as soon as Justin had invested his nephew with the purple, the patriarch of Constantinople placed the diadem on the heads of the emperor and empress of the East. But the usual honors which the severity of Roman manners had allowed to the wives of princes, could not satisfy either the ambition of Theodora or the fondness of Justinian. He seated her on the throne as an equal and independent colleague in the sovereignty of the empire, and an oath of allegiance was imposed on the governors of the provinces in the joint names of Justinian and Theodora. 29 The Eastern world fell prostrate before the genius and fortune of the daughter of Acacius. The prostitute who, in the presence of innumerable spectators, had polluted the theatre of Constantinople, was adored as a queen in the same city, by grave magistrates, orthodox bishops, victorious generals, and captive monarchs. 30
1 There is some difficulty in the date of his birth (Ludewig in Vit. Justiniani, p. 125;) none in the place - the district Bederiana - the village Tauresium, which he afterwards decorated with his name and splendor, (D'Anville, Hist. de l'Acad. &c., tom. xxxi. p. 287 - 292.)
2 The names of these Dardanian peasants are Gothic, and almost English: Justinian is a translation of uprauda, (upright;) his father Sabatius (in Graeco-barbarous language stipes) was styled in his village Istock, (Stock;) his mother Bigleniza was softened into Vigilantia.
3 Ludewig (p. 127 - 135) attempts to justify the Anician name of Justinian and Theodora, and to connect them with a family from which the house of Austria has been derived.
4 See the anecdotes of Procopius, (c. 6,) with the notes of N. Alemannus. The satirist would not have sunk, in the vague and decent appellation of Zonaras. Yet why are those names disgraceful? - and what German baron would not be proud to descend from the Eumaeus of the Odyssey! Note: It is whimsical enough that, in our own days, we should have, even in jest, a claimant to lineal descent from the godlike swineherd not in the person of a German baron, but in that of a professor of the Ionian University. Constantine Koliades, or some malicious wit under this name, has written a tall folio to prove Ulysses to be Homer, and himself the descendant, the heir (?), of the Eumaeus of the Odyssey. - M
*_0007 St. Martin questions the fact in both cases. The ignorance of Justin rests on the secret history of Procopius, vol. viii. p. 8. St. Martin's notes on Le Beau. - M
5 His virtues are praised by Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 11.) The quaestor Proclus was the friend of Justinian, and the enemy of every other adoption.
6 Manichaean signifies Eutychian. Hear the furious acclamations of Constantinople and Tyre, the former no more than six days after the decease of Anastasius. They produced, the latter applauded, the eunuch's death, (Baronius, A.D. 518, P. ii. No. 15. Fleury, Hist Eccles. tom. vii. p. 200, 205, from the Councils, tom. v. p. 182, 207.)
7 His power, character, and intentions, are perfectly explained by the court de Buat, (tom. ix. p. 54 - 81.) He was great-grandson of Aspar, hereditary prince in the Lesser Scythia, and count of the Gothic foederati of Thrace. The Bessi, whom he could influence, are the minor Goths of Jornandes, (c. 51.)
8 Justiniani patricii factione dicitur interfectus fuisse, (Victor Tu nunensis, Chron. in Thesaur. Temp. Scaliger, P. ii. p. 7.) Procopius (Anecdot. c. 7) styles him a tyrant, but acknowledges something which is well explained by Alemannus.
9 In his earliest youth (plane adolescens) he had passed some time as a hostage with Theodoric. For this curious fact, Alemannus (ad Procop. Anecdot. c. 9, p. 34, of the first edition) quotes a Ms. history of Justinian, by his preceptor Theophilus. Ludewig (p. 143) wishes to make him a soldier.
10 The ecclesiastical history of Justinian will be shown hereafter. See Baronius, A.D. 518 - 521, and the copious article Justinianas in the index to the viith volume of his Annals.
11 The reign of the elder Justin may be found in the three Chronicles of Marcellinus, Victor, and John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 130 - 150,) the last of whom (in spite of Hody, Prolegom. No. 14, 39, edit. Oxon.) lived soon after Justinian, (Jortin's Remarks, &c., vol. iv p. 383:) in the Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius, (l. iv. c. 1, 2, 3, 9,) and the Excerpta of Theodorus Lector, (No. 37,) and in Cedrenus, (p. 362 - 366,) and Zonaras, (l. xiv. p. 58 - 61,) who may pass for an original.
Note: Dindorf, in his preface to the new edition of Malala, p. vi., concurs with this opinion of Gibbon, which was also that of Reiske, as to the age of the chronicler. - M.
12 See the characters of Procopius and Agathias in La Mothe le Vayer, (tom. viii. p. 144 - 174,) Vossius, (de Historicis Graecis, l. ii. c. 22,) and Fabricius, (Bibliot. Graec. l. v. c. 5, tom. vi. p. 248 - 278.) Their religion, an honorable problem, betrays occasional conformity, with a secret attachment to Paganism and Philosophy.
13 In the seven first books, two Persic, two Vandalic, and three Gothic, Procopius has borrowed from Appian the division of provinces and wars: the viiith book, though it bears the name of Gothic, is a miscellaneous and general supplement down to the spring of the year 553, from whence it is continued by Agathias till 559, (Pagi, Critica, A.D. 579, No. 5.)
14 The literary fate of Procopius has been somewhat unlucky. 1. His book de Bello Gothico were stolen by Leonard Aretin, and published (Fulginii, 1470, Venet. 1471, apud Janson. Mattaire, Annal Typograph. tom. i. edit. posterior, p. 290, 304, 279, 299,) in his own name, (see Vossius de Hist. Lat. l. iii. c. 5, and the feeble defence of the Venice Giornale de Letterati, tom. xix. p. 207.)
2. His works were mutilated by the first Latin translators, Christopher Persona, (Giornale, tom. xix. p. 340 - 348,) and Raphael de Volaterra, (Huet, de Claris Interpretibus, p. 166,) who did not even consult the Ms. of the Vatican library, of which they were praefects, (Aleman. in Praefat Anecdot.) 3. The Greek text was not printed till 1607, by Hoeschelius of Augsburg, (Dictionnaire de Bayle, tom. ii. p. 782.)
4. The Paris edition was imperfectly executed by Claude Maltret, a Jesuit of Toulouse, (in 1663,) far distant from the Louvre press and the Vatican Ms., from which, however, he obtained some supplements. His promised commentaries, &c., have never appeared. The Agathias of Leyden (1594) has been wisely reprinted by the Paris editor, with the Latin version of Bonaventura Vulcanius, a learned interpreter, (Huet, p. 176.)
Note: Procopius forms a part of the new Byzantine collection under the superintendence of Dindorf. - M.
15 Agathias in Praefat. p. 7, 8, l. iv. p. 137. Evagrius, l. iv. c. 12. See likewise Photius, cod. lxiii. p. 65.
16 Says, he, Praefat. ad l. de Edificiis is no more than a pun! In these five books, Procopius affects a Christian as well as a courtly style.
17 Procopius discloses himself, (Praefat. ad Anecdot. c. 1, 2, 5,) and the anecdotes are reckoned as the ninth book by Suidas, (tom. iii. p. 186, edit. Kuster.) The silence of Evagrius is a poor objection. Baronius (A.D. 548, No. 24) regrets the loss of this secret history: it was then in the Vatican library, in his own custody, and was first published sixteen years after his death, with the learned, but partial notes of Nicholas Alemannus, (Lugd. 1623.)
18 Justinian an ass - the perfect likeness of Domitian - Anecdot. c. 8. - Theodora's lovers driven from her bed by rival daemons - her marriage foretold with a great daemon - a monk saw the prince of the daemons, instead of Justinian, on the throne - the servants who watched beheld a face without features, a body walking without a head, &c., &c. Procopius declares his own and his friends' belief in these diabolical stories, (c. 12.)
19 Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur et la Decadence des Romains, c. xx.) gives credit to these anecdotes, as connected, 1. with the weakness of the empire, and, 2. with the instability of Justinian's laws.
*_0008 The Anecdota of Procopius, compared with the former works of the same author, appear to me the basest and most disgraceful work in literature. The wars, which he has described in the former volumes as glorious or necessary, are become unprofitable and wanton massacres; the buildings which he celebrated, as raised to the immortal honor of the great emperor, and his admirable queen, either as magnificent embellishments of the city, or useful fortifications for the defence of the frontier, are become works of vain prodigality and useless ostentation. I doubt whether Gibbon has made sufficient allowance for the "malignity" of the Anecdota; at all events, the extreme and disgusting profligacy of Theodora's early life rests entirely on this viratent libel - M.
20 For the life and manners of the empress Theodora see the Anecdotes; more especially c. 1 - 5, 9, 10 - 15, 16, 17, with the learned notes of Alemannus - a reference which is always implied.
21 Comito was afterwards married to Sittas, duke of Armenia, the father, perhaps, at least she might be the mother, of the empress Sophia. Two nephews of Theodora may be the sons of Anastasia, (Aleman. p. 30, 31.)
22 Her statute was raised at Constantinople, on a porphyry column. See Procopius, (de Edif. l. i. c. 11,) who gives her portrait in the Anecdotes, (c. 10.) Aleman. (p. 47) produces one from a Mosaic at Ravenna, loaded with pearls and jewels, and yet handsome.
23 A fragment of the Anecdotes, (c. 9,) somewhat too naked, was suppressed by Alemannus, though extant in the Vatican Ms.; nor has the defect been supplied in the Paris or Venice editions. La Mothe le Vayer (tom. viii. p. 155) gave the first hint of this curious and genuine passage, (Jortin's Remarks, vol. iv. p. 366,) which he had received from Rome, and it has been since published in the Menagiana (tom. iii. p. 254 - 259) with a Latin version.
24 After the mention of a narrow girdle, (as none could appear stark naked in the theatre,) Procopius thus proceeds. I have heard that a learned prelate, now deceased, was fond of quoting this passage in conversation.
25 Theodora surpassed the Crispa of Ausonius, (Epigram lxxi.,) who imitated the capitalis luxus of the females of Nola. See Quintilian Institut. viii. 6, and Torrentius ad Horat. Sermon. l. i. sat. 2, v. 101. At a memorable supper, thirty slaves waited round the table ten young men feasted with Theodora. Her charity was universal.
Et lassata viris, necdum satiata, recessit.
26 She wished for a fourth altar, on which she might pour libations to the god of love.
*_0009 Gibbon should have remembered the axiom which he quotes in another piece, scelera ostendi oportet dum puniantur abscondi flagitia. - M.
27 Anonym. de Antiquitat. C. P. l. iii. 132, in Banduri Imperium Orient. tom. i. p. 48. Ludewig (p. 154) argues sensibly that Theodora would not have immortalized a brothel: but I apply this fact to her second and chaster residence at Constantinople.
28 See the old law in Justinian's Code, (l. v. tit. v. leg. 7, tit. xxvii. leg. 1,) under the years 336 and 454. The new edict (about the year 521 or 522, Aleman. p. 38, 96) very awkwardly repeals no more than the clause of mulieres scenicoe, libertinae, tabernariae. See the novels 89 and 117, and a Greek rescript from Justinian to the bishops, (Aleman. p. 41.)
29 I swear by the Father, &c., by the Virgin Mary, by the four Gospels, quae in manibus teneo, and by the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, puram conscientiam germanumque servitium me servaturum, sacratissimis DDNN. Justiniano et Theodorae conjugi ejus, (Novell. viii. tit. 3.) Would the oath have been binding in favor of the widow? Communes tituli et triumphi, &c., (Aleman. p. 47, 48.)
30 "Let greatness own her, and she's mean no more," &c. Without Warburton's critical telescope, I should never have seen, in this general picture of triumphant vice, any personal allusion to Theodora.


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Heterotrophic Gyrodinium sp. dinoflagellate observed in a bloom of centric diatoms, July 2004, Western Arctic Ocean. These large non-thecate dinoflagellates are a significant component of the total microzooplankton biomass in arctic and subarctic regions, prey on bloom-forming diatoms, and are food for mesozooplankton.
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SKILLMAN, N.J. – In a week full of good news, the MIT women's tennis team found out Wednesday that freshman first singles player Lauren Quisenberry has been selected to compete in the NCAA Individual Singles Tournament. On Friday, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association named MIT the May recipients of the ITA National Team Sportsmanship Award.
I'm very proud that our team has been selected for the ITA National Team Sportsmanship Award", said Carol Matsuzaki, in her 13th year as MIT head coach. "This year's team camaraderie has truly been amazing and this team has fought hard and fair at each and every match. A lot of credit goes to our seniors for nurturing a culture of learning, growing, and being a good citizen of the world."
The ITA National Team Sportsmanship Award is a monthly award that goes to one men's and one women's team that has exemplified outstanding sportsmanship, character and ethical conduct in the true spirit of competition and collegiate tennis. The winners are selected by the ITA Ethics and Infractions Committee from nominations received from all ITA member institutions (NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community Colleges).
This monthly award began in 2003. In addition to the obvious reasons, sportsmanship and fair play are considered important in college tennis due to the fact that players make their own line calls during a match. The Men's winners for the month of May were the Division 1 Black Knights of Army.
Quisenberry, a freshman from Corpus Christi Texas, was phenomenal at first singles and first doubles for MIT. She posted a 20-0 record in dual meets at singles and a 17-3 mark in doubles while being named New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Rookie and Athlete of the Year. Along the way, she defeated Julia Browne from Tufts University, who was the National singles champion in 2010. Browne and Quisenberry could meet again in this year's tournament, which will take place May 27-29 in Claremont, California.


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A boom in stripped-down, minimalist training groups shaking up New Zealand's health and fitness industry is being fuelled by boredom, says the founder of the country's first CrossFit gym.
Since Darren Ellis started his CrossFit gym in Auckland about five years ago, he had seen about 45 more open up around the country.
Instead of weight machines and treadmills, CrossFit gyms relied on less traditional training equipment like truck tyres, shipping ropes and sand bags.
The main reason people were flocking through the doors was because they were fed up with working out alone in sterile training environments, Ellis said.
"They all say the same thing, that they are bored with the commercial gym model. That's why these gyms are taking off."
CrossFit, which originally started in the US, was a fitness program which aimed to offer constantly varied, high intensity, full-functional workouts.
Its international website states that CrossFit offered "an alternative to the prevailing commercial gym establishment and its signature "big-box," machine-based, bodybuilding approach to fitness".
Ellis said CrossFit training focused on building strength, primarily through body-weight exercises.
"The exercises have application to the stuff you do every day, like lifting a box or bending over. We're just training the body to do what's it meant to do."
There were now around 4500 CrossFit affiliates worldwide, and growing.
Ellis said when he started CrossFit New Zealand, in the suburb of St Johns, he had no idea it would become so popular.
"We didn't see it coming at all. We thought we'd be the only ones but it's just taken off."
Ellis' gym had grown from about 30 members in its first year to nearly 200 on its books now.
At another Auckland gym, Ludus Magnus, members can be seen clambering up ropes hanging from the ceiling, running hill sprints carrying medicine balls, and smashing tyres with sledgehammers.
Owner Joe Naufahu said Ludus was "a hell of a lot more fun" than the usual gym and offered "a completely different training experience to anything else".
"We sell the training experience rather than the workout."
Former professional rugby player Naufahu thought the growing popularity of new training methods was a natural progression back to doing the basics, rather than using sophisticated gym machines.
"People are realising that a lot of these machines are just there to make you lazy and make things easier."
His trainers now included the likes of former kiwi-league legend Reuben Wiki and professional mixed martial artist Rod McSwain.
The training was tough but if you made it through the first session, you would probably keep coming back, Nuafahu said.
'Ludians', as members called themselves, were encouraged to "unleash the inner gladiator" as they worked through hour-long sessions written up on a blackboard.
Naufahu said the gym's numbers had steadily grown since he and co-founder Philipp Spahn started the gym about two years ago.
After finishing up in rugby, Naufahu spent a year as a personal trainer at a conventional gym before looking to re-create a team training environment.
"Coming from playing in teams my whole life, I know that with teams, you just feed off each other. Ludus is about helping each other out rather than competing."
Ellis said he also worked in a conventional gym before starting CrossFit.
"I tried for years in a commercial gym environment to help people and I'd spend hours writing these extensive programmes, only to come in the next week and find them doing bicep curls and bench presses."
Club Physical chief executive Paul Richards said he saw both the good and the bad aspects to gyms like CrossFit.
"Obviously they're competitors, but I like them because they're helping people get fit and they add colour and spice to the industry.
"It's radical and fun but it's really for very fit people. It's definitely not for the average person."
Richards estimated that around 90 per cent of New Zealanders could not survive the type of high-intensity training at CrossFit or Ludus.
He also said some of the exercises were not wise.
"If you do what I've seen them do and you already have a lower back injury, you could wipe yourself out straight away."
Ellis said he agreed that there was potential for injury, especially if a gym was set up by "cowboys".
"For some people, if they've been very inactive, then more care needs to be taken with them."
But he said all new members at his gym were taken through an intensive introduction process.
"It takes people a month of basic training before they can start the main classes."
There were always trainers on deck to monitor people's form and technique, he added.
Prices at gyms like CrossFit and Ludus Magnus tended to be much higher than conventional gyms. ranging from $180 to 300 per month.
"It's a heck of a lot more expensive than somewhere like Jets, but there you don't talk to anyone and there's not much room," Ellis said.
"We like to think of it as cheap personal training. Most of the time with a personal trainer you can't really justify the cost. People are better off sharing the costs with a bunch of people."
Richards thought the rates that CrossFit charged were about right.
"Our gyms in New Zealand are far too cheap. I think good on them.
"And the funny thing about it is their facilities are very basic so it should be the other way around but we can't increase our prices because our competitors aren't."
*There was an error in an earlier version of this story which has been amended. The final quote incorrectly used the word 'drop prices' rather than 'increase prices'.


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Ottoman rule and Eastern Christianity
For over 400 yrs. The Church under Islamic rule experienced a "dark age". The Church was completely dominated by the state, its administration became corrupt, and its faithful suffered from frequent pogroms. Yet the Church never ceased to exist as the Church.
State Control
- Turks invaded and conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453 under the leadership of Mohamed II. The invasion brought the end of Byzantium, crushing the prestige of the Christian East.
- Shortly after his victory Mohammed invited the Greeks to elect their own patriarch. Gennadius Scholarius, was chosen. He had participated in the Council of Florence, initially as a supporter of union, but Mark of Ephesus brought him to see the errors of the Council and he began a vehement opponent of union. He became a historical figure for his theological works and was recognized as a good leader in a difficult time.
- Initially other than paying a head tax to the Sultan the Orthodox were left to their own business. In fact, the Orthodox Patriarch enjoyed an historically unparalleled amount of power as milet pasha. The Muslims did not much distinguish between Church and State and therefore in recognizing the Patriarch as the head of the Church also recognized him as head of the Christians in a Political sense as well. Even in the glory days of the Empire the Patriarch did not enjoy this kind of position, Michael Celarius way have been close.
- The Church hierarchy was given the right to civil administration over their Christian population. The bishops, under the Patriarch judged Christians according to Greek laws, rather than Islamic ones. All sentences were imposed by the Turkish authorities. They were allowed their own schools and basically became a state within a state.
Corrupt Administration
- Political decline shortly settle in to the Ottoman Empire. Corruption became the rule. The sultans fleeced their pashas, who in turn fleeced their faithful. These were desperaten time and there was no one to listen to the complaints of the Christian, no one within the territories and no one without.
- Even the rights of the patriarch as milet pasha were reduced to nothing in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He was left the "right" of being held responsible for the Christians. Persecutions and martyrdom were becoming prevalent. All of Europe feared the Ottomans and Russia alone came to their aid, but this only worsened their position and infuriated their occupiers.
Pogroms and Mayhem
- The situation grew much worse, as national awareness and hope for freedom grew in the captive Christians. The Greeks throughout Turkey paid in blood for the Greek uprising of 1821 and Patriarch Gregory V was martyred that same year.
- On paper things looked up after the Crimean War where Turks allied with England and France. When signing the Peace of Paris of 1856, the Sultan Medjid issued the Gatti-Gamayun, granting Christians equal rights with Moslems.
- The Gatti-Gamayun did nothing to improve the lives of the Greeks so they began to retaliate in the second half of the nineteenth century which was back and forth slaughter between the Christians and the Turks.
- 1861 saw uprisings in Bosnia/Herzegovina, in Serbia, Wallachia, Moldavia, and Bulgaria.
- 1866 saw rebellion on the island of Crete.
- 1875 saw a new uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- Probably the most mind-boggling changes to occur though in the Church during these 400 years of Moslem occupation was the growth of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Greek nationalism focused itself in the Church, its only real vehicle of power. Even in the face of constant struggle at home in Constantinople and the agony of their faithful the Patriarchs of Constantinople waged a war for power in the Church and won. The patriarchs, throughout these centuries systematically subdued all the Slavic churches which had previously been autocephalic, and the patriarchates of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, where Orthodox Arabs all but making them Greek, and systematically eliminating in them any memory of their independent past.
Works and References
Hussey, J. M., The Byzantine World, London, England 1961.
Walker, W., (Norris, Lotz, and Handy), A History of the Christian Church, 4th edition, New York, NY 1985.
Runciman, S., The Great Church in Captivity, Cambridge, UK 2001.
Mango, C., The Oxford History of Byznatium, Oxford, NY 2002.


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Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center's founding chairman, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 20,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide annually. For over 50 years, the organization has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. KCACTF has grown into a network of more than 700 academic institutions throughout the country.
The goals of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival are:
- to encourage, recognize, and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theater programs;
- to provide opportunities for participants to develop their theater skills and insight; and achieve professionalism;
- to improve the quality of college and university theater in America;
- to encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works.
Through state, regional, and national festivals, KCACTF student and faculty participants celebrate the creative process and share experiences and insights within the community of theater artists. The KCACTF honors excellence of overall production and offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, dramatic criticism, directing, and design.
The KCACTF is a year-round program in eight geographic regions in the United States. Regional activities are coordinated through eight KCACTF regional administrations. With funding and administrative support from the Kennedy Center, the regional administrations coordinate all aspects of the production response process on the local and regional level and supervise regional-level KCACTF award, scholarship and residency programming. The playwriting chair works with schools that have entered new and student-written plays by providing mentorship in the development of new scripts--assessment specifically designed for a developing play--and by providing information on the numerous playwriting awards offered.
In January and February of each year, regional festivals showcase the finest of each region's entered productions and offer a wide range of activities, including workshops, symposia, and regional-level scholarship and award programs.
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, part of the Rubenstein Arts Access Program, is generously funded by David M. Rubenstein.Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts' Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Additional support is provided by The Honorable Stuart Bernstein and Wilma E. Bernstein; the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation; the Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation;
and the National Committee for the Performing Arts.


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Second Day of Director-General's Official Visit to Ghana
On the second day of her official visit to Ghana, 9 July, the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, held a meeting with the members of the Parliament of Ghana. Chaired by the Right Honourable Edward Korby Doe Adaho, Speaker of the Ghana Parliament, this meeting was attended by the Majority Leader in the Parliament, a representative of the Minority leader, the first and second Speakers and Chairpersons of the Select Committees on Education, Culture, Communication and Information, as well as other members of Parliament.
Citing Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who in the Independence speech declared that "We have awakened. Today from now on there is a new African in the World", the Director-General re-affirmed her belief in Africa's renaissance.
She commended Ghana for its decision to prioritize human development, gender equality, and science and technology in its mid-term coordinated Programme for 2010-2016, all of which are consistent with the main lines of UNESCO's strategy for Africa -- which includes flagship programmes for youth and gender as crosscutting programmes and the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, strengthening education systems and harnessing the power of science, technology and innovation and promoting freedom of expression.
The Speaker of Parliament thanked the Director-General and UNESCO for its support to the World Heritage of Ghana, through its World Cultural Heritage Programme, and appealed for greater efforts in capacity building. He also called for continued support in fostering communication and information to allow people be share knowledge and be less vulnerable to manipulation. This appeal was seconded by other members of parliament who also requested more support for teacher training, particularly with regard to the teaching of sciences and mathematics, and for UNESCO support to the restitution of cultural properties to Ghana.
On the same day, the Director-General visited the University of Cape Coast, where she met with the Vice-Chancellor and all deans of faculties. This provided the opportunity to highlight the strengths of the University of Cape Coast in the fields of humanities, science education, and education planning and administration. The role of the Institute of Education Planning and Administration (IEPA) that UNESCO helped establish in the 70's and supported the development over the years was deemed especially critical. The IEPA has been instrumental in teacher training and in influencing educational policy in addition to providing prost-graduate programmes. The Minister of Education, who was accompanying the Director-General, was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast until her recent appointment as Minister.
The Director-General met also with the Cape Coast Resident Minister. This was the entry point on arrival to Cape Coast, the first capital of Ghana whose history and cultural heritage are prominent in Cape Coast and Elmina Castells. The Director-General highlighted UNESCO's efforts in advocating for culture to become part of the post-2015 agenda and expressed the will to assist in inscribing the cultural wealth of Cape Coast, which could help contribute to the promotion of tourism.
In his welcoming remarks, the Resident Minister commended UNESCO for its efforts in fostering access to education and protection of cultural heritage. While acknowledging that Cape Coast is well endowed in education institutions, he expressed concern with regard to the quality of education provided and requested the support of UNESCO in addressing this issue.


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LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Ram Nation truly stretches coast to coast and that was proven on Saturday afternoon when former VCU baseball standout, Jerry DiPoto, was named the General Manager of the Los Angeles Angels.
After spending the past six years in various roles with the Arizona Diamondbacks, DiPoto was named the 11th general manager in the Angels' history at a press conference earlier today.
"I can't tell you how I honored I am to have the opportunity to join an organization with such championship-level people," Dipoto said. "With the experience of success the Angels have had over the last decade, I feel like it's an organization that's only moving forward, that has championship aspirations. I love what I do, and I love doing it with good baseball people."
Prior to his time with Arizona, he had spent time as a scout, farm director and numerous other positions with the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox.
Although Dipoto is just 43, he accumulated experience in every area of baseball since his playing career ended in Colorado in 2000.
He donned the Black & Gold from 1987-89 and starred on the mound for the Rams, including leading VCU to its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1988. DiPoto is still among the top-10 in school history in many pitching categories.
DiPoto also holds the distinction of being the first Ram to reach the Major Leagues after being a third-round selection in the 1989 MLB draft by the Cleveland Indians.
In eight major league seasons, he racked up 27 wins and 49 saves, while tossing 495.1 innings and striking out 352.


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MIAMI (Reuters) - The United States and Cuba have agreed to resume regular migration talks in a possible sign of thawing relations after more than three years of tensions over Cuba's jailing of a U.S. government contract worker.
The announcement of the talks Wednesday came as Cuban and U.S. officials met in Washington for discussions exploring the restoration of direct mail service between the two countries after a 50-year ban.
The new round of migration talks on July 17 "do not represent a significant change in U.S. policy towards Cuba," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.
Migration between the two countries has long been a thorny issue. Diplomatic relations have been frozen since soon after Cuba's 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro, and hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles fled their homeland for South Florida in the decades that followed.
Migration talks were suspended in 2003 by President George W. Bush. The talks were briefly revived by the Obama administration in 2009, but were suspended again in 2011, when American contractor Alan Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison for installing Internet networks for Cuban Jews in a U.S. program Cuba considers subversive.
Gross' arrest in late 2009 and sentencing in March 2011 stalled a brief period of detente in U.S.-Cuba relations after President Barack Obama took office early in 2009 and quickly loosened restrictions on travel and remittances to the island for Cuban Americans with relatives in Cuba.
Cuba relaxed its own restrictions on travel in January, increasing the number of Cubans able to travel legally to the United States and allowing several prominent dissidents to travel abroad freely since then.
"In the past two months, a very slow thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations has been perceptible," said Geoff Thale, program director for the Washington Office on Latin America.
"These are modest but sensible steps. What's significant is less the steps themselves than the fact that there is movement in the relationship. It's a real break from the status quo."
U.S. officials played down the significance of the migration talks, noting that it was consistent with a broader policy of engagement with countries the U.S. does not have full diplomatic relations with.
One senior official said the talks are part of a wider U.S. engagement with the region, citing recent trips to Latin America by Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry.
Kerry is a longtime advocate of greater engagement with Cuba, and his confirmation as Secretary of State early this year encouraged to supporters of lifting the embargo.
Many obstacles remain, foremost among them a 51-year-old U.S. trade embargo that by law can only be lifted if Cuba agrees to abandon its one-party communist system.
In a statement on Wednesday, Cuba described the postal talks as fruitful but emphasized that a "stable, quality and safe postal service" could not resume while the embargo was in place.
The most immediate stumbling blocks to any long-term warming of relations continue to be the fate of Gross, as well as four Cuban spies jailed in the United States.
Cuba has hinted it might release Gross if the United States agrees to free the four spies who are considered national heroes by Havana. Washington says releasing them is out of the question, noting that one of the four was sentenced to life for conspiracy to commit murder.
Cuba recently agreed to allow an American doctor to examine Gross, satisfying a longstanding demand by his family and the U.S. government. Gross, 64, has lost 100 pounds (45 kg), in jail, and relatives want him treated for a tumor.
Reporting by David Adams; Editing by Doina Chiacu