Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/89

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 67 agreed that the one should navigate the fleet from Carthage to Constantinople, that the other should lead an army through Egypt and Asia, and that the Imperial purple should be the reward of diligence and success. A faint rumour of their under- taking was conveyed to the ears of Phocas, and the wife and mother of the younger Heraclius were secured as the hostages of his faith ; but the treacherous art of Crispus extenuated the distant peril, the means of defence were neglected or delayed, and the tyrant supinely slept till the African navy cast anchor in the Hellespont. Their standard was joined at Abydus by the fugitives and exiles who thirsted for revenge ; the ships of Heraclius, whose lofty masts were adorned with the holy symbols of religion,*^" steered their triumphant course through the Propontis ; and Phocas beheld from the windows of the palace his approaching and inevitable fate. The green faction was tempted, by gifts and promises, to oppose a feeble and fruitless resistance to the landing of the Africans : but the people, and even the guards, were determined by the well-timed defection of Crispus ; and the tyrant was seized by a private enemy, who boldly invaded the solitude of the palace. Stripped of the diadem and purple, clothed in a vile habit, and loaded with chains, he was transported in a small boat to the Imperial galley of Heraclius, who reproached him with the crimes of his abominable reign. " Wilt thou govern better ? " were the last words of the despair of Phocas. After suffering each variety of insult and torture, his head was severed from his body, the mangled trunk was cast into the flames, and the same treat- ment was inflicted on the statues of the vain usurper and the seditious banner of the green faction. The voice of the clergy, the senate, and the people invited Heraclius to ascend the throne which he had purified from guilt and ignominy ; after some graceful hesitation, he yielded to their entreaties. His coronation was accompanied by that of his wife Eudoxia ; and [Eudocia] their posterity, till the fourth generation, continued to reign Reign of over the empire of the East. The voyage of Heraclius had A'D^eio'oct. been easy and prosperous ; the tedious march of Nicetas was Feb^u ^^^' not accomplished before the decision of the contest ; but he submitted without a murmur to the fortune of his friend, and •' According to Theophanes, Kifidma, and cIkovo. efof/.rJTopo<;. Cedrenus adds an •i^eipoTToirjroi' f'lKova toO Kvpiov, which Heraclius bore as a banner in the first Persian expedition. See George Pisid. Acroas. i. 140. The manufacture seems to have flourished : but Foggini, the Roman editor (p. 26), is at a loss to determine whether this picture was an original or a copy.