Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/79

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 57 by the jealous policy of the conqueror.^'- The eastern regions of Germany, which had been left vacant by the emigration of the Vandals, were replenislied with Sclavonian colonists ; the same tribes are discovered in the neighbourhood of the Adriatic and of the Baltic ; and, with the name of Baian himself, the Illyrian cities of Neyss and Lissa are again found in the heart of Silesia. In the disposition both of his troops and provinces, the chagan exposed the vassals, wliose lives he disregarded,'*" to the first assault ; and the swords of the enemy were blunted before they encountered the native valour of the Avars. The Persian alliance restored the troops of the East to the wars of defence of Europe ; and Maurice, who had supported ten years against tue the insolence of the chagan, declared his resolution to march in 595-002 person against the barbarians. In the space of two centuries, none of the successors of Theodosius had appeared in the field, their lives were supinely spent in the palace of Constantinople ; and the Greeks could no longer understand that the name of emperor, in its primitive sense, denoted the chief of the armies of the republic. The martial ardour of Maurice was opposed by the grave flattery of the senate, the timid superstition of tlie patriarch, and the tears of the empress Constantina ; and they all conjured him to devolve on some meaner general the fatigues and perils of a Scythian campaign. Deaf to their advice and entreaty, the emperor boldly advanced "*'* seven miles from [a.d. 591] the capital ; the sacred ensign of the cross was displayed in the front, and Maurice reviewed, with conscious pride, the arms and numbers of the veterans who had fought and conquered beyond the Tigris. Anchialus was the last term of his progress by sea and land ; he solicited, without success, a miraculous answer to his nocturnal prayers ; his mind was confounded by the death of a favourite horse, the encounter of a wild boar, a storm of wind and rain, and the birth of a monstrous child ; and he forgot •*2 This is one of the most probable and himinous conjectures of the learned count de Buat (Hist, des Peuples Barbares, torn. xi. p. 546-568). The Tzechi and Serbi are found together near mount Caucasus, in Illyricum, and on the Lower Elbe. Even the wildest traditions of the Bohemians, &.c. afford some colour to his hypothesis. •*■' See Fredegarius, in the Historians of France, torn. ii. p. 432. Baian did not conceal his proud insensibility. 'On toiovtous (not too-outou? according to a foolish emendation) enaifnicrui T-ij VuifxaiKfi, lus ci Kai avix^aitj ye cr'/iicri Oararo) dAcui'ac, aAA' tuot ye fj-'q yeieffflai crurai(T6i)<ri>'. ■' See the march and return of Maurice, in Theophylact, 1. v. c. t6, 1. i. c. i, 2, 3. If he were a writer of taste or genius, we might su',pect him of an elegant irony ; hut Theophylact is surely harmless.