Ultimately, by habitude, or perhaps with a feeling for the vicious propensities of the times, the Emperor developed an almost feminine reserve in relation to the "bearded" or masculine sex; and in his movements he was guarded by his staff of eunuchs with as much jealousy as if his virtue were something as delicate as that of a woman.[1]
Having dismissed these general considerations, I will now attempt to depict briefly the state of the remaining moiety of the Empire, of the Eastern provinces, at the beginning of the sixth century. In order to render my descriptions more compact and intelligible, I shall treat the subject under three distinct headings, viz., Political, Educational, and Religious.
I. Political
The dominions of Anastasius the elder,[2] for there was a later emperor of that name, corresponded generally to those ruled during the first quarter of the past century by the Ottoman sultans, who were the last to conquer them, and who became possessed of the whole in 1461.[3] Proceeding from east to west,
- [Footnote: Chamberlain, practically the premiership, whilst unfitting them to usurp
the throne; see Schlumberger, L'épopée byzant. au dix. siècle, 1896, p. 6.]*
- ↑ See Const. Porph., passim. The emperor cannot even uncover his head without the castrates closing round him to intercept the gaze of rude mankind; Reiske, ii, p. 259.
- ↑ The use of numerical affixes to the names of monarchs did not exist among the ancients, and hence many cruxes arise for antiquarians to distinguish those of the same name. Popularly they were often differentiated by nicknames. Thus we read of Artaxerxes the Longhanded, Ptolemy the Bloated, the Flute-player; Charles the Bald, the Fat; Philip the Fair, Frederic Barbarossa, etc. The grandson of the last, Frederic II, seems to have been the first who assumed a number as part of his regal title; see Ludewig, Vita Justin., VIII, viii, 53.
- ↑ CP. fell to Mahomet II in 1453, and the kingdom of Trebizond,
