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OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 179 upon earth. The emperor invited these learned divines to a friendly conference, in which they might propose their argu- ments to the senate ; they obeyed the summons ; but the prospect of their bodies hanging on the gibbet in the suburb of Galata reconciled their companions to the unity of the reign of Constantine. He pardoned his brothers, and their names were still pronounced in the public acclamations ; but, on the repetition or suspicion of a similar offence, the obnoxious princes were deprived of their titles and noses, in the presence of the Catholic bishops who were assembled at Constantinople in the sixth general synod. In the close of his life, Pogonatus was anxious only to establish the right of primogeniture ; the hair of his two sons, Justinian and Hei'aclius, was offered on the shrine of St. Peter, as a symbol of their spiritual adoption by the pope ; but the elder was alone exalted to the rank of Augustus and the assurance of the empire. After the decease of his father, the inheritance of the Roman justiuian n. world devolved to Justinian II. ; and the name of a triumphant September lawgiver was dishonoured by the vices of a boy, who imitated his namesake only in the expensive luxury of building. His passions were strong ; his understanding was feeble ; and he was intoxicated with a foolish pride that his birth had given him the command of millions, of whom the smallest community would not have chosen him for their local magistrate. His favourite ministers were two beings the least susceptible of human sympathy, an eunuch and a monk ; to the one he abandoned the palace, to the other the finances ; the former corrected the emperor's mother with a scourge, the latter sus- pended the insolvent tributaries, with their heads downwards, over a slow and smoky fire. Since the days of Commodus and Caracalla, the cruelty of the Roman princes had most com- monly been the effect of their fear ; but Justinian, who possessed some vigour of character, enjoyed the sufferings, and braved the revenge, of his subjects about ten years, till the measure was full, of his crimes and of their patience. In a dark dungeon, Leontius, a general of reputation, had groaned above three years with some of the noblest and most deserving of the patricians ; he was suddenly drawn forth to assume the government of Greece ; and this promotion of an injured man was a mark of the contempt rather than of the confidence of his prince. As he was followed to the port by the kind offices of his friends, Leontius observed, with a sigh, that he was a victim adorned for sacrifice and that inevitable death would