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Chap. XL] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 237 became the victims of their indiscreet zeal ; a prsefect of Con- stantinople fled for refuge to the holy sepulchre, a count of the East was ignominiously whipped, and a governor of Cilicia was hanged, by the order of Theodora, on the tomb of two assassins, whom he had condemned for the murder of his groom and a daring attack upon his own life. 48 An aspiring candidate may be tempted to build his greatness on the public confusion, but it is the interest as well as the duty of a sovereign to maintain the authority of the laws. The first edict of Justinian, which was often repeated and sometimes executed, announced his firm resolution to support the innocent and to chastise the guilty of every denomination and colour. Yet the balance of justice was still inclined in favour of the blue faction, by the secret affection, the habits, and the fears of the emperor ; his equity, after an apparent struggle, submitted, without reluc- tance, to the implacable passions of Theodora, and the empress never forgot, or forgave, the injuries of the comedian. At the accession of the younger Justin, the proclamation of equal and rigorous justice indirectly condemned the partiality of the former reign. "Ye blues, Justinian is no more! ye greens, he is still alive!" 49 A sedition, which almost laid Constantinople in ashes, was sedition of exc.ted by the mutual hatred and momentary reconciliation of nopie, sur- the two factions. In the fifth year of his reign, Justinian Nika. a.d. celebrated the festival of the ides of January : the games ary were incessantly disturbed by the clamorous discontent of the [Jan. 13] greens ; till the twenty-second race, the emperor maintained his silent gravity ; at length, yielding to his impatience, he condescended to hold, in abrupt sentences, and by the voice of a cryer, the most singular dialogue 50 that ever passed between a prince and his subjects. Their first complaints were respectful 48 The doubtful credit of Procopius (Anecdot. c. 17) is supported by the less partial Evagrius, who confirms the fact and specifies the names. The tragic fate of the praefeet of Constantinople is related by John Malala (torn. ii. p. 139 Tp. 416]). 49 See John Malala (torn. ii. p. 147 [p. 422]) ; yet he owns that Justinian was attached to the blues. The seeming discord of the emperor and Theodora is perhaps viewed with too much jealousy and refinement by Procopius (Anecdot. c. 10). See Aleman. Prsefat. p. 6. 50 This dialogue, which Theophanes has preserved, exhibits the popular language, as well as the manners, of Constantinople in the vith century. Their Greek is mingled with many strange and barbarous words, for which Ducange cannot always find a meaning or etymology.