Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/25

OF THE ItOMAN EMPIRE 3 since it relieves the most intolerable distress ; but in which the bounty of a prince is the most liable to be abused by the claims of prodigality and fraud.'* On the seventh day of his reign, Justin gave audience to the Embassy of ambassadors of the Avars, and the scene was decorated to im- ad. 566 press the barbarians with astonishment, veneration, and terror. From the palace gate, the spacious courts and long porticoes were lined with the lofty crests and gilt bucklers of the guards, who presented their spears and axes with more confidence than they would have shewn in a field of battle. The officers who exercised the j)ower, or attended the person, of the prince were attired in their richest habits and arranged according to the military and civil order of the hierarchy. When the veil of the [Nov. 20] sanctuary was withdrawn, the ambassadors beheld the emperor of the East on his throne, beneath a canopy or dome, which was supported by four columns and crowned with a winged figure of victory. In the first emotions of surprise, they sub- mitted to the servile adoration of the Byzantine court ; but, as soon as they rose from the ground, Targetius,' the chief of the embassy, expressed the freedom and pride of a barbarian. He extolled, by the tongue of his interpreter, the greatness of the chagan, by whose clemency the kingdoms of the South were permitted to exist, whose victorious subjects had traversed the frozen rivers of Scythia, and who now covered the banks of the Danube with innumerable tents. The late emperor had cultivated, with annual and costly gifts, the friendship of a grateful monarch, and the enemies of Rome had respected the allies of the Avars. The same prudence would instruct the nephew of Justinian to imitate the liberality of his uncle, and to purchase the blessings of peace from an invincible people, who delighted and excelled in the exercise of war. The reply of the emperor was delivered in the same strain of haughty defiance, and he derived his confidence from the God of the Christians, the ancient glory of Rome, and the recent triumphs of Justinian. "The empire," said he, "abounds with men and horses, and arms sufficient to defend our frontiers and to chastise the barbarians. You offer aid, you threaten hostilities : Ave ■• Theophan. Chronograpli. p. 205 [ad ann. 6059 ; the date is a year wrong ; see last note]. Whenever C't-drenus or Zonaras are mere transcribers, it is super- fluous to allege their testimony. IS [TapyiVioi and T«p-yiT,j? in Menander, fr. 28 ; hut Ter^azis in Corippus, iii. 258.] " [Cp. Appendix 2.]