Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/42

20 THE DECLINE AND FALL ascended the throne at the mature age ot torty-tliree years ; and he reigned above twenty years over the East and over himself; ^^ expelling from his mind the wild democracy of passions, and establisliing (according to the quaint expression of Evagrius) a perfect aristocracy of reason and virtue. Some suspicion will degrade the testimom' of a subject, though he protests that his secret praise should never reach the ear of his sovereign,^'** and some failings seem to place the character of Maurice below the purer merit of his predecessor. His cold and reserved de- meanour might be imputed to arrogance ; his justice was not always exempt from cruelty, nor his clemency from weakness ; and his I'igid economy too often exposed him to the reproach of avarice. But the rational wishes of an absolute monarch must tend to the happiness of his people ; Maurice was endowed with sense and courage to ])romote that happiness, and his administration was directed by the principles and example of Tiberius. The pusillanimity of the Greeks had introduced so complete a separation between the offices of king and of general that a private soldier who had deserved and obtained the })urple seldom or never appeared at the head of his armies. Yet the emperor Maurice enjoyed the glory of restoring the Persian monarch to his throne ; his lieutenants waged a doubtful war against the Avars of the Danube ; and he cast an eye of pity, of ineffectual pity, on the abject and distressful state of his Italian provinces. Distress of From Italy the emperors were incessantly tormented by tales of misery and demands of succour, which extorted the humiliat- ■* Consult, for the character and reign of Maurice, the fifth and sixth books of Evagrius. particularly 1. vi. c. i ; the eight books of his prolix and florid history by Theophylact Simocatta ; Theophanes, p. 213, Sec. ; Zonaras, torn. ii. 1. xiv. p. 73 [c. 12] ; Cedrenus, p. 394 [i. p. 691]. [.A.dd John of Ephesus.] "• At/TOKparujp oi'Tws yero/uifrn? ttji' fify oxAofrpartioi' tmv vaOiav €« TJjf oiKcio? e^errjKarriTe tl/vxT]^, apicTTOKpaTeinv &e er toi? iavrov Aoyicr/ioTy Knri'^TritTaiJ.e.-o^. Eva- grius composed his history in the twelfth year of Maurice ; and he had been so wisely indiscreet that the emperor knew and rewarded his favourable opinion (1. vi. c. 24). [Finlay suggested that the expression of Evagrius conceals an allusion to the administrative policy of Maurice, which heex]5lnuis ns follows ( Hisl. of Greece, i. p. 308) : Maurice aimed at reform and decided that his first step should be " to render the army, long a licentious and turbulent check on the imperial power, a well- disciplined and efficient instiunient of his will ; and he hoped in this manner to repress the tyranny of the official aristocracy " and strengthen the authority of the central government. " In his struggle to obtain this result he w.is compelled to make use of the existing administration ; and, consequently, he appears in the history of the enijMre as the supporter and protector of a detested aristocracy, eqaally unpopular with the army and tlie people ; while his ulterior [)lans for the improvement of the civil condition of his subjects were never fully made known, and perhaps never framed even by himself.! Italy