No More Learning

With the means supplied to him by Tiberius, Maurice at once began to
raise a formidable army; he enrolled men from his own native country,
and enlisted recruits from Syria, Iberia, and the province of Hanzit.
With these forces he successfully invaded Arzanene, captured the strong
fortress of Aphoumon, and carried back with him thousands of Persians
and much spoil.
In the autumn of this year (578) Justin, who had temporarily
recovered his reason, crowned Tiberius Emperor (26 Sept. ) and eight days
later, on 4 Oct. , his troubled life was ended.
Tiberius now as ever sought military triumphs only as a means to
diplomatic ends. In consequence of the victories of the summer he had
in his hands numerous important captives, some of them even connexions
of the royal house. He at once despatched Zacharias and a general,
Theodore by name, giving them full powers to conclude peace and
offering to return the prisoners of war. The Emperor professed himself
prepared to surrender Iberia and Persarmenia (but not those refugees
who had fled to the shelter of the Empire), to evacuate Arzanene and
to restore the fortress of Aphoumon, while in return Dara was to be given
back to the Empire. Tiberius was desirous of arriving at a speedy
agreement, so that the enemy might not gain time for collecting rein-
forcements. Despite the delay of a counter mission from Persia there
was every prospect that Rome's conditions would be accepted, when in
the early spring of 579 Chosroes died and was succeeded on the throne
by Ormizd. Though the Emperor was willing to offer the same terms,
Ormizd procrastinated, while making every effort to provision Dara
and Nisibis and to raise fresh levies. At length he definitely refused to
surrender Dara and stipulated anew for an annual money payment
(summer, 579). The military and diplomatic operations of the years
579-581, though interesting enough in themselves, did not really alter
the general position of affairs.
Thus inconclusively dragged on the long hostilities between the rival
powers in the East, but in Europe the Avars had grown discontented
1 A later tradition connects him with Armenia: cf. B. Z. xix. (1910), p. 649.
ch. ix. 18—2


## p. 276 (#308) ############################################

276 Surrender of Sirmium [580-582
with the Empire's subsidies. Targitius was sent in 580 to receive the
tribute, but immediately after the envoy's departure Baian started with
his rude flotilla down the Danube and, marching over the neck of
country between that river and the Save, appeared before Sirmium and
there began to construct a bridge. When the Roman general in
the neighbouring fortress of Singidunum protested at this violation of
the peace the Khagan claimed that his sole aim was to cross the Save in
order to march through the territory of the Empire, recross the Danube
with the help of the Roman fleet, and thus attack the common enemy,
the Slav invaders, who had refused to render to the Avars their annual
tribute. Sirmium was without stores of provisions and had no effective
garrison. Tiberius had relied upon the continuance of the peace and all
his available troops were in Armenia and Mesopotamia. When Baian's
ambassador arrived in the capital, the Emperor could only temporise:
he himself was preparing an expedition against the Slavs, but for the
present he would suggest that the moment was ill-chosen for a campaign,
since the Turks were occupying the Chersonese (Bosporos had fallen into
their hands in 576) and might shortly advance westward. The Avar
envoy was not slow to appreciate the true position, but on the return
journey he and the attendant Romans were slain by a band of Slav
pillagers—this fact casually mentioned gives us some idea of the con-
dition at this time of the open country-side in the Danubian provinces.
Meanwhile Baian had been pressing forward the building of the bridge
over the Save, and Solachos, the new Avar ambassador, now threw off
the mask and demanded the evacuation of Sirmium. "I would sooner
give your master,11 Tiberius replied, "one of my two daughters to wife
than I would of my own free will surrender Sirmium. 11 The Danube
and the Save were held by the enemy, and the Emperor had no army,
but through Illyria and Dalmatia officers were sent to conduct the
defence. On the islands of Casia and Carbonaria Theognis met the
Khagan, but negotiations were fruitless. For two years, despite fearful
hardships, the city resisted, but the governor was incompetent, and the
troops under Theognis inadequate, and at last, some short time before his
death, Tiberius, to save the citizens, sacrificed Sirmium. The inhabitants
were granted life, but all their possessions were left in the hands of the
barbarians, who also exacted the sum of 240,000 nomismata as payment
for the three years1 arrears (580-582) due under the terms of the former
agreement which was still to remain in force.
It was during the investment of Sirmium that the Slavs seized their
golden hour. They poured over Thrace and Thessaly, scouring the
Roman provinces as far as the Long Walls—a flood of murder and of
ravage: the black horror of their onset still darkens the pages of John
of Ephesus.
In the year which saw the fall of Sirmium (582) Tiberius died. Feeling
that his end was near, on 5 Aug. he created Maurice Caesar and gave



## p. 277 (#309) ############################################

582-586] Accession of Maurice 277
to him the name of Tiberius1; at the same time the Emperor's elder
daughter was named Constantina and betrothed to Maurice. Eight
days later, before an assemblage of representatives of army, church and
people, Tiberius crowned the Caesar Emperor (13 Aug. ) and on 14 Aug.
582, in the palace of the Hebdomon, he breathed his last. The marriage
of Maurice followed hard on the funeral of his father-in-law. We would
gladly have learned more of the policy and aims of'Tiberius. We can
but dimly divine in him a practical statesman who with sure prescience
had seen what was possible of achievement and where the Empire's true
future lay. He fought not for conquest but for peace, he struggled to
win from Persia a recognition that Rome was her peer, that on a basis of
security the Empire might work out its internal union and concentrate
its strength around the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. "The
sins of men," says the chronicler, "were the reason for his short reign.
Men were not worthy of so good an emperor. "
"Make your rule my fairest epitaph" were the words of Tiberius
to Maurice, and the new monarch undertook his task in a spirit of high
seriousness. At his accession Maurice appointed John Mystakon com-
mander-in-chief of the eastern armies, and this position he held until
584, when he was superseded by Philippicus, the Emperor's brother-in-
law. The details of the military operations during the years 582-585
cannot be given here it may be sufficient to state that their general
result was indecisive—most of the time was spent in the capture or
defence of isolated fortresses or in raids upon the enemy's territory'.
No pitched battle of any importance occurred till 586. Philippicus
had met Mebodes at Amida in order to discuss terms of peace, but
Persia had demanded a money payment, and such a condition Maurice
would not accept. The Roman general, finding that negotiations were
useless, led his forces to Mount Izala, and at Solochon the armies engaged.
The Persians were led by Kardarigan, while Mebodes commanded on
the right wing and Aphraates, a cousin of Kardarigan, on the left.
Philippicus was persuaded not to adventure his life in the forefront of the
battle, so that the Roman centre was entrusted to Heraclius, the father of
the future emperor. Vitalius faced Aphraates, while Wilfred, the praefect
of Emesa, and Apsich the Hun opposed Mebodes. On a Sunday morning
the engagement began: the right wing routed Aphraates, but was with
1 It would seem that Germanus was also created Caesar but declined the responsi-
bilities which Maurice was prepared to assume.
1 A short chronological note may however be of service. 582, autumn: John
Mystakon commander-in-chief in Armenia: Roman success on Nymphius turned
into a rout through jealousy of Hours. 583: Capture of fort of Akbas, near
Martyropolis, by Rome. Peace negotiations between Rome and Persia. 584:
Marriage of Philippicus to Gordia, sister of Maurice: Philippicus appointed to
succeed John in the East. He fortifies Monokarton and ravages country round
Nisibis. 585: Philippicus ill: retires to Martyropolis. Stephanus and the Hun
Apsich successfully defend Monokarton.


## p. 278 (#310) ############################################

278 Mutiny of the Eastern Army [586-588
difficulty recalled from its capture of the Persian baggage; the defeated
troops now strengthened the enemy's centre and some of the Roman
horse were forced to dismount to steady the ranks under Heraclius.
But during a desperate hand-to-hand struggle the cavalry charged
the Persians and the day was won: the left wing pursued the troops
under Mebodes as far as Dara. Philippicus then began the siege of
the fortress of Chlorfiara, but his position was turned by the forces under
Kardarigan; a sudden panic seized the Roman commander, who fled
precipitately under cover of night to Aphoumon. The enemy, suspecting
treachery, advanced with caution, but encountered no resistance, while the
seizure of the Roman baggage-train relieved them from threatened
starvation. Across the Nymphius by Amida to Mount Izala Philippicus
retreated: here the forts were strengthened and the command given to
Heraclius, who in late autumn led a pillaging expedition across the Tigris.
The flight of Philippicus may well have been due, at least in part, to
a fresh attack of illness, for in 587 he was unable to take the field, and
when he started for the capital, Heraclius was left as commander in the
East and at once began to restore order and discipline among the Roman
troops.
Maurice's well-intentioned passion for economy had led him to issue
an order that the soldiers' pay should be reduced by a quarter; Philippicus
clearly felt that this was a highly dangerous and inexpedient measure—
the army's anger might lead to the proclamation of a rival emperor; he
delayed the publication of the edict, and it was probably with a view of
explaining the whole situation to his master that, despite his illness, he
set out for Constantinople. On his journey, however, he learned that he
had been superseded and that Priscus had been appointed commander-
in-chief. If Maurice had ceased to trust his brother-in-law let the new
general do what he could: Philippicus would no longer stay his hand.
From Tarsus he ordered Heraclius to leave the army in the hands of
Narses, governor of Constantina, and himself to retire to Armenia; he
further directed the publication of the fatal edict.
Early in 588 Priscus arrived in Antioch. The Roman forces were to
concentrate in Monokarton; and from Edessa he made his way,accompanied
by the bishop of Damascus, towards the camp with the view of celebrating
Easter amongst his men. But when the troops came forth to meet him,
his haughtiness and failure to observe the customary military usages
disgusted the army and at this critical moment a report spread that their
pay was to be reduced. A mutiny forced Priscus to take refuge in
Constantina, and the fears of Philippicus proved well founded. Ger-
manus, commander in the Lebanon district of Phoenicia, was against his
own will proclaimed emperor, though he exacted an oath that the
soldiers would not plunder the luckless provincials. A riot at Constantina,
where the Emperor's statues were overthrown, drove the fugitive Priscus
to Edessa, and thence he was hounded forth to seek shelter in the capital.


## p. 279 (#311) ############################################

588-590] Fall of Martyropolis 279
Maurice's only course was to reappoint Philippicustothesupreme command
in the East, but the army, which had elected its own officers, was not to
be thus easily pacified: the troops solemnly swore that they would never
receive the nominee of an emperor whom they no longer acknowledged.
Meanwhile, as was but natural, Persia seized her opportunity and invested
Constantina, but Germanus prevailed upon his men to take action and
the city was relieved. The soldiers1 resentment was lessened by the
skilful diplomacy of Aristobulus, who brought gifts from Constantinople,
and Germanus was able to invade Persia with a force of 4000 men.
Though checked by Marouzas, he retired in safety to the Nymphius, and
at Martyropolis Marouzas was defeated and killed by the united Roman
forces: three thousand captives were taken, among them many prominent
Persians, while the spoils and standards were sent to Maurice. This was
the signal that the army was once more prepared to acknowledge the
Emperor, and all would have been well had not Maurice felt it necessary
to insist that Philippicus should again be accepted by the troops as their
general. This however they refused to do, even when Andreas, captain
of the imperial shield-bearers, was sent to them; and only after a year's
cessation of hostilities (588-589) was the army, through the personal
influence of Gregory, bishop of Antioch, persuaded to obey its former
commander (Easter 590). Philippicus did not long enjoy his triumph.
About this time Martyropolis fell by treachery into Persian hands, and
with the spring of 590' the Roman forces marched into Armenia to
recover the city. When he failed in this Philippicus was superseded by
Comentiolus, and although the latter was unsuccessful, Heraclius won
a brilliant victory and captured the enemy's camp.
It is at first sight somewhat surprising that the Persians had remained
inactive during the year 589, but we know that they were fully engaged
with internal difficulties. The violence of Ormizd had, it seems, caused
a dangerous revolt in Kusistan and Kerman, and in face of this peril
Persia accepted an offer of help from the Turks. Once admitted into
Khorasan, Schaweh Schah disregarded his promises and advanced south-
wards in the direction of the capital, but was met by Bahrain Cobin, the
governor of Media, and was defeated in the mountains of Ghilan. The
power of the Turks was broken: they could no longer exact, but were
bound to pay, an annual tribute. After this signal success Bahrain
Cobin undertook an invasion of Roman territory in the Caucasus district;
the Persians encountered no resistance, for the imperial forces were con-
centrated in Armenia. Maurice sent Romanus to engage the enemy in
Albania, and in the valley of one of the streams flowing into the Araxes
Bahrain was so severely worsted that he was in consequence removed
from his command by Ormizd. Thus disgraced he determined to seize the
1 This is not the usually accepted chronology. The present writer hopes shortly
to support the view here taken in a paper on the literary construction of the history
of Theophylactus Simocatta.


## p. 280 (#312) ############################################

280 Chosroes restored by Maurice [591-600
crown for himself but veiled his real plan under the pretext of champion-
ing the cause of Chosroes, Ormizd's eldest son1. At the same time a plot
was formed in the palace, and Bahram was forestalled: the conspirators
dethroned the king and Chosroes was crowned at Ctesiphon. But after
the assassination of Ormizd the new monarch was unable to maintain
his position: his troops deserted to Bahram, and he was forced to throw
himself upon the mercy of the Emperor. As a helpless fugitive the
King of kings arrived at Circesium and craved Rome's protection, offer-
ing in return to restore the lost Armenian provinces and to surrender
Martyropolis and Dara. Despite the counsels of the senate, Maurice
saw in this strange reversal of fortune a chance to terminate a war which
was draining the Empire's strength: his resolve to accede to his enemy's
request was at once a courageous and a statesmanlike action. He
furnished Chosroes with men and money, Narses took command of the
troops and John Mystakon marched from Armenia to join the army.
The two forces met at Sargana (probably Sirgan, in the plain of Ushnei1)
and in the neighbourhood of Ganzaca (Takhti-Soleiman) defeated and
put to flight Bahram, while Chosroes recovered his throne without further
resistance. The new monarch kept his promises to Rome and surrounded
himself with a Roman body-guard (591). By this interposition Maurice
had restored the Empire's frontier5 and had ended the long-drawu struggle
in the East.
In 592 therefore he could transport his army into Europe, and was able
to employ his whole military force in the Danubian provinces. Maurice
himself went with the troops as far as Anchialus, when he was recalled
by the presence of a Persian embassy in the capital. The chronology of
the next few years is confused and it is impossible to give here a detailed
account of the campaigns. Their general object was to maintain the
Danube as the frontier line against the Avars and to restrict the forays
of the Slavs. In this Priscus met with considerable success, but Peter,
Maurice's brother, who superseded him in 597, displayed hopeless
incompetency and Priscus was reappointed4. In 600 Comentiolus.
who was, it would appear, in command against his own will, entered
into communications with the Khagan in order to secure the dis-
comfiture of the Roman forces: he was, in fact, anxious to prove that
the attempt to defend the northern frontier was labour lost. He
ultimately fled headlong to the capital and only the personal inter-
ference of the Emperor stifled the inquiry into his treachery. On this
1 There seems no sufficient evidence for the theory that Bahram Cobin relied on
a legitimist claim as representing the prae-Sassanid dynasty.
2 See H. C. Rawliuson, "Memoir on the site of the Atropatenian Ecbatana,"
Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (1840), pp. 71 ff.
3 See maps by H. Hiibschmann in "Die altarmenischen Ortsnamen," Indoger-
manUche Forschungen, xvi. (1904), and in Gelzer's Oeorgius Oyprhu.
4 For the siege of Thessalonica in this year, cf. Wroth, op. cit. i. p. xri.


## p. 281 (#313) ############################################

600-602] Campaigns on the Danube Frontier 281
occasion the panic in Constantinople was such that the city guard—the
Brjfioi—were sent by Maurice to man the Long Walls1.
On the return of Comentiolus to the seat of war in the summer of 600,
Priscus, in spite of his colleague's inactivity, won a considerable victory,
but the autumn of 601 saw Peter once again in command and conducting
unsuccessful negotiations for a peace. Towards the close of 602 the
outlook was brighter, for conditions had changed in favour of Rome.
The Antae had acted as her allies, and when Apsich was sent by the
Khagan to punish this defection, numbers of the Avars themselves deserted
and joined the forces under Peter. Maurice would seem to have thought
that this was the moment to drive home the advantage which fortune
offered, for if the soldiers could support themselves at the expense of the
enemy, the harassed provincials and the overburdened exchequer might
be spared the cost of their maintenance. Orders were sent that the
troops were not to return, but should winter beyond the Danube. The
army heard the news with consternation: barbarian tribes were ranging
over the country on the further side of the river, the cavalry was worn
out with the marches of the summer, their booty would purchase them
the pleasures of civilised life. The Roman forces mutinied and, dis-
obeying their superiors, crossed the river and reached Palastolum.
Peter withdrew from the camp in despair, but meanwhile the
officers had induced their men to face the barbarians once again, and the
army had returned to Securisca (near Nikopol). Floods of rain, however,
and extreme cold renewed the discontent; eight spokesmen, among whom
was Phocas, covered the twenty miles between Peter and the camp and
demanded that the army might return home to winter quarters. The
commander-in-chief promised to give his answer on the following day:
between the rebellious determination of the troops and the imperative
despatches of his brother he could see no loophole of escape; of one
thing alone he was assured: that day would start a train of ills
for Rome. True to his promise he joined his men and to their repre-
sentatives he read the Emperor's letter. Before the tempest of opposition
which this evoked the officers fled, and on the following day, when the
soldiers had twice assembled to discuss the situation, Phocas was raised
upon a shield and declared their leader. Peter carried the news with all
speed to the capital; Maurice disguised his fears and reviewed the troops
of the demes. The Blues, on whose support he relied, numbered 900,
the Greens 1500. On the refusal of Phocas to receive the Emperor's
ambassadors, the demesmen were ordered to man the city walls.
Phocas had been chosen as champion of the army, not as emperor: the
army had refused allegiance to Maurice personally but not to his house;
1 It seems probable that in some source hostile to Maurice the treachery of
Comentiolus was transferred to the Emperor himself and to this was added the story
of the failure to ransom the prisoners. The basis of fact from which the story sprang
may perhaps be discerned in Theophylact, e. g. p. 247, 18 (edn. de Boor).


## p. 282 (#314) ############################################

282 Death of Maurice [602
accordingly the vacant throne was offered to Theodosius, the Emperors
eldest son, or, should he decline it, to his father-in-law Germanus, both
of whom were hunting at the time in the neighbourhood of the capital.
They were at once recalled to Constantinople. Germanus, realising that
he was suspected of treason, armed his followers and surrounded by a
body-guard took refuge in the Cathedral Church. He had won the
sympathies of the populace, and when the Emperor attempted to remove
him by force from St Sophia, riots broke out in the city, while the troops
of the demes deserted their posts on the walls to join in the abuse of
Emperor and patriarch. Maurice was denounced as a Marcianist and
ribald songs were shouted against him through the streets. The house
of the praetorian praefect, Constantine Lardys, was burned to the ground,
and at the dead of night, with his wife and children, accompanied by
Constantine, the Emperor, disguised as a private citizen, embarked for
Asia (22 Nov. 602). A storm carried him out of his course and he only
landed with difficulty at the shrine of Autonomus the Martyr; here an
attack of gout held him prisoner, while the praetorian praefect was
despatched with Theodosius to enlist the sympathy of Chosroes on
behalf of his benefactor. The Emperor fled, the Greens determined to
espouse the cause of Phocas and rejected the overtures of Germanus, who
now made a bid for the crown and was prepared to purchase their
support; they feared that, once his end was gained, his well-known
partiality for the Blues would reassert itself. The disappointed candidate
was driven to acknowledge his rival's claims. Phocas was invited to the
Hebdomon (Makrikeui) and thither trooped out the citizens, the senate,
and the patriarch. In the church of St John the Baptist the rude half-
barbarian centurion was crowned sovereign of the Roman Empire, and
entered the capital "in a golden shower" of royal gifts.
But the usurper could not rest while Maurice was alive. On the day
following the coronation of his wife Leontia, upon the Asian shore at
the harbour of Eutropius five sons of the fallen Emperor were slain
before their father's eyes, and then Maurice himself perished, calling upon
God and repeating many times "Just art thou, O Lord, and just is thy
judgment. " From the beach men saw the bodies floating on the waters
of the bay, while Lilius brought back to the capital the severed heads,
where they were exposed to public view.
Maurice was a realist who suffered from an obstinate prejudice in
favour of his own projects and his own nominees; he could diagnose the
ills from which the Empire suffered, but did not always choose aright the
moment for administering the remedy. He had served a stern apprentice-
ship in the eastern wars, and saw clearly that while Rome in many of
her provinces was fighting for existence, the importance of the leader of
armies outweighed that of the civil governor. In some temporary
instances Justinian had entrusted to the praefect the duties of a general,
and had thus broken through the sharp distinction between the two


## p. 283 (#315) ############################################

eoa] Character and Rule of Maurice 283
spheres drawn by the Diocletio-Constantinian reforms. Maurice however
did not follow the principle of Justinian's tentative innovations: he chose
to give to the military commander a position in the hierarchy of office
superior to that of the civil administration, conferring on the old
magistri militiim of Africa and Italy the newly coined title of exarch:
this supreme authority was to be the Emperors vicegerent against Berber
and Lombard. It was the first step towards the creation of the system
of military themes'. It was doubtless also considerations of practical
convenience and a recognition of the stubborn logic of facts which led to
Maurice's scheme of provincial redistribution. Tripolitana was separated
from Africa and joined like its neighbour Cyrenaica to the diocese of
Egypt; Sitifensis and Caesariensis were fused into the single province of
Mauretania Prima, while the fortress of Septum and the sorry remnants
of Tingitana were united with the imperial possessions in Spain and the
Balearic Isles to form the province of Mauretania II, thus solidifying under
one government the scattered Roman territories in the extreme West.
Similar motives probably determined the new arrangements (after the
treaty with Persia in 591) on the Eastern frontier. It was again Maurice
the realist who disregarded the counsels of his ministers and made full use 01
the unique opportunity which the flight of Chosroes offered to the Empire.
In Italy the incursion of the Lombards presented a problem with
which the wars on the Danube and in Asia rendered it difficult for
Maurice to cope. Frankish promises of help against the invaders were
largely illusory, even though the young West-Gothic prince Athanagild
was held in Constantinople as a pledge for the fulfilment by his Mero-
vingian kinsfolk of their obligations. It was further unfortunate that
the relations between Pope and Emperor were none of the best; many
small disagreements culminated in the dispute concerning the title
of oecumenical patriarch which John the Faster had adopted. The
contention between Gregory and Maurice has certainly been given a
factitious importance by later historians—the over-sensitive Gregory
alone seems to have regarded the question as of any vital moment and
his successors quietly acquiesced in the use of the offending word—but
the disagreement doubtless hampered the Emperor's reforms; when he
endeavoured to prevent soldiers from deserting and retiring into
monasteries, the Pope seized on the measure as a new ground of com-
plaint and raised violent protest in the name of the Church.
As general in Asia Maurice had restored the morale of the army, and
throughout his life he was always anxious to effect improvements in
military matters. He was the first Emperor to realise fully the im-
portance of Armenia as a recruiting ground5, and it may well be from
1 See Ch. xm.
* When an Emperor is at great cost transporting men from Armenia to the
Danube provinces, is the story probable that he sacrificed thousands of prisoners of
war through refusal to pay to the Khagan their ransom?


## p. 284 (#316) ############################################

284 Phocas [602-603
this fact that late tradition traced his descent from that country. It
was just in this sphere of military reform, however, that he displayed his
fatal inability to judge the time when he could safely insist on an
unpopular measure; his demand that the army should winter beyond
the Danube cost him alike throne and life. It was further an all-advised
step when Maurice in his later years (598 or 599) reverted, as Justin had
done before him, to a policy of religious persecution. By endeavouring
to force Chalcedonian orthodoxy on Mesopotamia he effected little save
the alienation of his subjects. It was left to Heraclius to follow Tiberius
in choosing the better part and endeavouring by conciliation to introduce
union amongst the warring parties. But the great blot on the reign of
Maurice is his favouritism towards incapable officials; the ability of men
like Narses and Priscus had to give place to the incompetency of Peter
and the treachery of Comentiolus.
Time and again their blunders were
overlooked and new distinctions forced upon them. The fear that a
victorious general of to-day might be the successful rival of to-morrow
gave but a show of justification to this ruinous partiality.
But despite all criticisms Maurice remains a high-minded, conscien-
tious, independent, hard-working ruler, and if other proof of his
worth were lacking it is to be found in the universal hatred of his
murderer.
Other executions followed those of Maurice and his sons: Comentiolus
and Peter were slain, while Alexander dragged Theodosius from the
sanctuary of Autonomus and killed both him and the praefect Constantine.
Constantina and her three daughters were confined in a private house.
Phocas was master of the capital. But elsewhere throughout the Empire
men refused to ratify the army's choice: through Anatolia and Cilicia,
through the Roman province of Asia and in Palestine, through Illyricum
and in Thessalonica civil war was raging1: on every side the citizens
rose in rebellion against the assassin whom Pope Gregory and the
older Rome delighted to honour; even in Constantinople itself a plot
hatched by Germanus was only suppressed after a great part of the city
had been destroyed by fire. The ex-empress as a result of these disorders
was now immured with her daughters in a convent, while Philippicus and
Germanus were forced to become priests.
A persistent rumour affirmed that Theodosius was still alive; for a
time Phocas himself must have believed the report, for he put to death
his agent Alexander; furthermore Chosroes was thus furnished with a
fair-sounding pretext for an invasion of the Empire: he came as avenger
of Maurice to whom he owed his throne, and as restorer of Maurice's heir.
When in the spring of 603 Phocas despatched Lilius to the Persian court
to announce his accession, the ambassador was thrown into chains, and in
an arrogant letter Chosroes declared war on Rome. About this time1
1 Cf. H. Gelzer, Die Genesis, etc. , pp. 36 ff.


## p. 285 (#317) ############################################

603-609] Victories of Persia 285
also (603) Narses revolted, seized Edessa and appealed to Persia for
support. Germanus, now in command of the eastern army1, marched
to Edessa with orders to recover the city. In the spring of 604
Chosroes led his forces against the Empire, and while part encamped
round Dara, he himself made for Edessa to attack the Romans who
were themselves besieging Narses. As day broke the Persians fell
upon Germanus, who was defeated and eleven days later died of his
wounds in Constantina; his men fled in confusion. Chosroes, it would
appear, entered Edessa, and (according to the Armenian historian
Sebeos) Narses introduced to the Persian king a young man whom he
represented to be Theodosius; the pretender was gladly welcomed by
Chosroes, who then retired to Dara, where the Romans still resisted the
besiegers. On the news of the death of Germanus Phocas realised that
all the forces which he could raise were needed for the war in Asia. He
increased the annual payments to the Avars, and withdrew the regiments
from Thrace (605? ). Some of the troops under the command of the
eunuch Leontius were ordered to invest Edessa, though Narses soon
escaped from this city and reached Hierapolis; the rest of the army
marched against Persia, but at Arxamon, between Edessa and Nisibis,
Chosroes won a great victory and took numerous captives; about this
time, after a year and a half s siege, the walls of Dara were undermined,
the fortress captured and the inhabitants massacred. Laden with booty
the Persian monarch returned to Ctesiphon, leaving Zongoes in command
in Asia. Leontius was disgraced, and Phocas appointed his cousin Domen-
tiolus curopalates and general-in-chief. Narses was induced to surrender
on condition that no harm should be done to him; Phocas disregarded
the oath and Rome's best general was burned alive in the capital.
Meanwhile Armenia was devastated by civil war and Persian invasion:
Karin opened its gates to the pretended son of Maurice, and Chosroes
established a marzpan in Dovin. In the year after the siege of Dara (606)
Sahrbaraz and Kardarigan entered Mesopotamia and the country border-
ing on the frontier of Syria; among the towns which surrendered were
Amida and Resaina. In 607 Syria, Palestine and Phoenicia were over-
run; in 608 Kardarigan in conjunction, it seems, with Sahin marched
north-west and, while the latter occupied Cappadocia, spending a year
(608-609) in Caesarea which was evacuated by the Christians, the former
made forays into Paphlagonia and Galatia, penetrating even as far west
as Chalcedon. In fact the Roman world at this time fell into a state of
anarchy, and passions which had long smouldered burst into flame. Blues
and Greens fought out their feuds in the streets of Antioch, Jerusalem
and Alexandria, while on every side men easily persuaded themselves
that Theodosius yet lived. Even in Constantinople Germanus thought
1 Appointed to supersede Narses shortly before Maurice's death, the Emperor
being anxious to meet the objections of Persia.


## p. 286 (#318) ############################################

286 Plot and Counterplot [605-608
that he could turn to his own profit the popular belief. Our authorities
are unsatisfactory but it would seem that two distinct plots with different
aims were set on foot. There was a conspiracy among the highest court
officials headed by the praetorian praefect of the East, Theodoras:
Elpidius, governor of the imperial arsenal, was willing to supply arms,
and Phocas was to be slain in the Hippodrome. Theodoras himself
would then be proclaimed emperor. Of this plan Germanus obtained
warning, and for his part determined to anticipate the scheme by play-
ing upon the public sympathy for the house of Maurice. While nominally
championing the cause of Theodosius, he doubtless intended to secure for
himself the supreme power. Through a certain Petronia he entered into
communication with Constantina, but Petronia betrayed the secret to
Phocas. Under torture Constantina accused Germanus of complicity and
he in turn implicated others. The rival plot met with no better success.
Anastasius, who had been present at the breakfast council where the
project was discussed, repented of his treason and informed the Emperor.
On 7 June 605 Phocas wreaked his vengeance on the court officials, and
about the same time Germanus, Constantina and her three daughters met
their deaths.
Alarms and suspicions haunted the Emperor and terror goaded him
to fresh excesses. In 607, it would seem, his daughter Domentzia
was married to Priscus, the former general of Maurice, and when
the demesmen raised statues to bride and bridegroom, Phocas saw
in the act new treason and yet another attempt upon his throne. It
was in vain that the authorities pleaded that they were but following
long-established custom; it was only popular clamour that saved the
demarchs Theophanes and Pamphilus from immediate execution. Even
loyalty was proved dangerous, and anxiety for his personal safety made
of a son-in-law a secret foe. The capital was full of plague and scarcity
and executions: Comentiolus and all the remaining kindred of Maurice fell
victims to the panic fear of Phocas. The Greens themselves turned against
the Emperor, taunting him in the circus with his debauchery, and setting
on fire the public buildings. Phocas retorted by depriving them of all
political rights. He looked around for allies: at least he would win the
sympathies of the orthodox in the East, as he had from the first enjoyed
the support of Rome. Anastasius, Jacobite patriarch of Alexandria, was
expelled: Syria and Egypt, he decreed, should choose no ecclesiastical
dignitary without his authorisation. Before the common attack, Mono-
physite Antioch and Alexandria determined to sink their differences. In
608 the patriarchs met in the Syrian capital. The local authorities
interfered, but the Jacobite populace was joined by the Jews in their
resistance to the imperial troops. The orthodox patriarch was slain and
the rioters gained the day. Phocas despatched Cotton and Bonosus,
count of the East, to Antioch; with hideous cruelty their mission was
accomplished, and the Emperor's authority with difficulty re-established.


## p. 287 (#319) ############################################

608] Africa revolts under Heraclius 287
Thence Bonosus departed for Jerusalem, where the faction fights of Blues
and Greens had spread confusion throughout the city.
The tyrant was still master within the capital, but Africa was
preparing the expedition which was to cause his overthrow. In 607,
or at latest 608, Heraclius, formerly general of Maurice and now exarch,
with his viroo-Tpdrriyos Gregory, was planning rebellion. The news
reached the ears of Priscus, who had learned to fear his father-in-
law's animosity, and negotiations were opened between the Senate and
the Pentapolis: the aristocracy was ready to give its aid should a
liberator reach the capital. Obviously such a promise was of small
value, and Heraclius was forced to rely upon his own resources. But
he was at this time advanced in life, and to his son Heraclius and to
Gregory's son Nicetas was entrusted the execution of the plot. It is only
of recent years, through the discovery of the chronicle of John of Nikiou,
that we have been able to construct the history of the operations. First
Nicetas was to invade Egypt and secure Alexandria, then Heraclius
would take ship for Thessalonica, and from this harbour as his base he
would direct his attack upon Constantinople.
During the year 608, 3000 men were raised in the Pentapolis, and
these, together with Berber troops, were placed under the command
of Bonakis (a spelling which doubtless hides a Roman name) who
defeated without difficulty the imperial generals. Leontius, the
praefect of Mareotis, was on the side of Heraclius, and the governor
of Tripolis arrived with reinforcements. High officials were con-
spiring to support the rebels in Alexandria itself, when the plot was
revealed to Theodore, the imperialist patriarch. When the news reached
Phocas he forthwith ordered the praefect of Byzantium to convey fresh
troops with all speed to Alexandria and the Delta fortresses, while
Bonosus, who was contemplating a seizure of the patriarch of Jerusalem,
was summoned to leave the Holy City and to march against Nicetas.
On the latter's advance, Alexandria refused to surrender, but resist-
ance was short-lived, and the patriarch and general met their deaths.
Treasure, shipping, the island and fortress of Pharos, all fell into the
hands of Nicetas1, while Bonakis received the submission of many of the
Delta towns. At Caesarea, where Bonosus took ship, he heard of the
capture of Alexandria, and while his cavalry pursued the land route,
his fleet in two divisions sailed up the Nile by the Pelusiac channel and
by the main eastern arm of the river. At first Bonosus carried all before
him and inflicted a crushing defeat near Maniif on the generals of
Heraclius, thereby reconquering the Delta for Phocas, but he was repulsed
from Alexandria with heavy loss and suffered so severely in a fresh
advance from his base at Nikiou that he was forced to abandon Egypt
1 According to Theophanes the corn-ships of Alexandria were prevented from
reaching the capital from 608 onwards.


## p. 288 (#320) ############################################

288 Fall of Phocas [609-610
and to flee through Asia to Constantinople1. The imperialist resistance
was at an end and the new rule was established in Egypt (apparently
end of 609).
We have no certain information as to what the younger Heraclius
was doing during the year 609, but it seems not unlikely that it was at
this time that he occupied Thessalonica, for here he could draw rein-
forcements from the European malcontents. It is at least clear that,
when he finally started in 610 on his voyage to Constantinople, he
gathered supporters from the sea-side towns and from the islands on
his route. At the beginning of September, it would seem, he cast
anchor at Abydus in Mysia, where he was joined by those whom Phocas
had driven into exile. Crossing the Propontis he touched at Heraclea
and Selimbria, and at the small island of Calonymus the Church, through
the bishop of Cyzicus, blessed his enterprise. On Saturday, 3 Oct. , the
fleet, with images of the Virgin at the ships' mastheads, sailed under the
sea-walls of the capital. But in face of the secret treachery of Priscus
and the open desertion of the demesmen of the Green party the cause
of Phocas was foredoomed; Heraclius waited upon his ship until the
tyrant's own ministers dragged his enemy before him on the morning of
5 Oct. "Is it thus, wretch, that you have governed the State? " asked
Heraclius. "Will you govern it any better? '" retorted the fallen
Emperor. He was forthwith struck down, and his body dismembered
and carried through the city. Domentiolus and Leontius, the Syrian
minister of finance, shared his fate and their bodies, together with that
of Bonosus, were burned in the Ox Forum. In the afternoon of the
same day Heraclius was crowned emperor by Sergius the patriarch:
people and senate refused to listen to his plea that Priscus should be
their monarch: they would not see in their liberator merely the avenger
of Maurice, nor suffer him to return whence he came. On the same day
Heraclius married Eudocia (as his betrothed, Fabia, daughter of Rogatus
of Africa, was re-named) who became at once bride and empress. Three
days later, in the Hippodrome, the statue of Phocas was burned and with
it the standard of the Blues.
During 610 the Persians had been advancing westwards in the
direction of Syria: Callinicum and Circesium had fallen and the
Euphrates had been crossed. After his accession Heraclius sent an
embassy to Persia: Maurice was now avenged, and peace could be re-
stored between the two empires. Chosroes made no reply to the
embassy: he had proved all too conclusively Rome's weakness and
was not willing to surrender his advantage. Meanwhile Priscus was
appointed general and sent to Cappadocia to undertake the siege of
Caesarea, which was at this time in the occupation of the Persians. For
1 For further details see John of Nikiou, and for a map of the Delta cf. Butler,
The Conquest of Egypt, etc.


## p. 289 (#321) ############################################

611-613] The Struggle against Persia 289
a year the enemy resisted, but at last, in the late summer of 611, famine
drove «them to evacuate the city. They cut their way through the
Roman troops, inflicting serious loss, and retired to Armenia where they
took up winter quarters. In the same year Emesa was lost to the
Empire. In 612, on the news that the Persians were once more about
to invade Roman territory in force, Heraclius left the capital to confer
with Priscus in Caesarea. The general pleaded illness and treated the
Emperor with marked coolness and disrespect. His ambitions were
thwarted: he had gained nothing by the revolution and objected that
the Emperor's place was in Constantinople: it was no duty of his to
intermeddle personally with the conduct of the war. For the moment
Heraclius had no forces with which to oppose Priscus; he was condemned
to inaction and compelled to await his opportunity. In the summer
Sahin led his army to Karin, and reduced Melitene to submission,
afterwards joining Sahrbaraz in the district of Dovin. The Persians
were masters of Armenia. In 611 Eudocia had given birth to a daughter
and in May 612 a son was born, but on 13 Aug. the Empress died.
In 618 the Emperor, despite the protests of the Church, married his
niece Martina. In the autumn of 612 Nicetas came to Constantinople,
doubtless to confer with Heraclius as to the methods which were to be
adopted in the government of Egypt. Priscus also made his way to
the capital to honour the arrival of the Emperor's cousin, and was
invited by Heraclius to act as sponsor at his son's christening which
took place, it would seem, on 5 Dec. 612. Here the Emperor charged
his general with treason, and forced him to enter a monastery. In
Constantinople Priscus could no longer rely on the support of an army
and resistance was impossible. Heraclius appealed to the troops then
in the capital, and was enthusiastically greeted as their future captain.
Nicetas succeeded Priscus as comes excubitorum, while the Emperor
appointed his brother Theodore curopulates; he also induced Philippicus
to leave the shelter of a religious house and once more to undertake
a military command.
In the following year (613)1 Heraclius was free to carry out his own
plan of campaign: he determined to oppose the enemy on both their
lines of attack. Philippicus was to invade Armenia, while he himself
and his brother Theodore would check the Persian advance on Syria.
The aim of Chosroes was clearly to occupy the Mediterranean coast line.
A battle took place under the walls of Antioch, and there, after their
army had been strengthened by reinforcements, the Persians succeeded
in routing the Greeks: the road was now open for the southward march,
and in this year Damascus fell. Further to the north the Roman troops
held the defiles which gave access to Cilicia: though at first victorious,
1 This chronology, which is not that adopted by recent authorities, the present
writer hopes to justify in a detailed account of the campaigns of Heraclius which
will shortly appear in the United Service Magazine.
C MED. n. VOL. II. CH. IX. 19


## p. 290 (#322) ############################################

290 The Persians capture Jerusalem [614-615
in a second engagement they were put to flight; Cilicia and Tarsus
were occupied by the enemy. Meanwhile in Armenia Philippicus had
encamped at Valarsapat, but was compelled to beat a hurried retreat
before the Persian forces. The Romans were repulsed on every side.
But the worst was not yet: with the year 614 came the overwhelming
calamity of the fall of the Holy City. Advancing from Caesarea along
the coast the Persians under Sahrbaraz arrived before Jerusalem in the
month of April. Negotiations were put an end to by the violence of
the circus factions, and the Roman relief force from Jericho, which was
summoned by Modestus, was put to flight. The Persians pressed forward
the siege, bringing up towers and rams, and finally breaching the walls on
the twenty-first day from the investment of the city (? 3 or 5 May 614).
For three days the massacre lasted, and the Jews joined the victors in
venting their spite on their hated oppressors. We hear of 57,000 killed
and 85,000 taken captive. Churches went up in flames, the patriarch
Zacharias was carried into Persia and with him, to crown the disaster,
went the Holy Cross. At the news Nicetas seems to have hastened to
Palestine with all speed, but he could do no more than rescue the holy
sponge and the holy lance, and these were despatched for safe custody
to the capital. It was true that, when once Jerusalem was in his power,
Chosroes was prepared to pursue a policy of conciliation: he deserted his
former allies and the Jews were banished from the city, while leave was
accorded to rebuild the ruined churches; but this did little to assuage
the bitterness of the fact that a Christian empire had not been able to
protect its most sacred sanctuary from the violence of the barbarian
fire-worshipper.
In 615 the Persians began afresh that occupation of Asia Minor
which had been interrupted by the evacuation of Caesarea in 611.
When Sahin marched towards Chalcedon, Philippicus invaded Persia,
but the effort to draw off the enemy's forces proved unsuccessful. Asia
Minor however was not Syria, and Sahin realised that his position
was insecure. He professed himself ready to consider terms of peace.
Heraclius sailed over to the enemy's camp and from his ship carried on
negotiations with the Persian general. Olympius, praetorian praefect,
Leontius, praefect of the city, and Anastasius, the treasurer of St Sophia,
were chosen as ambassadors, while the Senate wrote a letter to the Persian
monarch in support of the Emperors action. But as soon as Sahin had
crossed the frontier, the Roman envoys became prisoners and Chosroes
would hear no word of peace.
Thus while Syria was lost to the Empire and while Slavs were
ranging at will over the European provinces, Heraclius had to face the
overwhelming problem of raising the necessary funds to carry on the
war. Even from the scanty records which we possess of this period
we can trace the Emperor's efforts towards economy: he reduced the
number of the clergy who enjoyed office in the capital, and if any above


## p. 291 (#323) ############################################

609-eig] The Avar Surprise 291
this authorised number desired residence in Constantinople, they were to
buy the privilege from the State (612). Three years later the coins in
which the imperial largess was paid were reduced to half their value.
But in June 617 (? ) yet another disaster overtook Heraclius. The
Khagan of the Avars made overtures for peace, and Athanasius the
patrician and Kosmas the quaestor arranged a meeting between the
Emperor and the barbarian chief at Heraclea. Splendid religious rites
and a magnificent circus display were to mark the importance of the
occasion, and huge crowds had poured forth from the city gates to be
present at the festivities. But it was no longer increased money
payments that the Khagan sought: he aimed at nothing less than the
capture of Constantinople. At a sign from his whip the ambushed
troops burst forth from their hiding-places about the Long Walls.
Heraclius saw his peril: throwing off his purple, with his crown under
his arm, he fled at a gallop to the city and warned its inhabitants.
Over the plain of the Hebdomon and up to the Golden Gate surged
the Avar host: they raided the suburbs, they pillaged the church of
Saints Cosmas and Damian in the Hebdomon, they crossed the Golden
Horn and broke in pieces the holy table in the church of the Archangel.
Fugitives who escaped reported that 270,000 prisoners, men and women,
had been swept away to be settled beyond the Danube, and there was
none to stay the Khagan's march. In 618 those who were entitled at
the expense of the State to share in the public distribution of loaves
of bread were forced to make a contribution at the rate of three nomismata
to the loaf, and a few months later (Aug. 618) the public distribution
was entirely suspended. Even such a deprivation as this was felt to
be inevitable: the chronicle of events in the capital does not record
any popular outbreak.
It was probably in the spring of 619 that the next step was
taken in the Persian plan of conquest, when Sahrbaraz invaded Egypt.
He advanced by the coast road, capturing Pelusium and spreading
havoc amongst its numerous churches and monasteries. Babylon, near
Memphis, fell, and thence the Persians, supported by a strong flotilla,
followed the main western branch of the Nile past Nikiou to Alexandria
and began the siege of the Egyptian capital. All the Emperor's
measures were indeed of little avail when Armenia, Rome's recruiting
ground, was occupied by Persia, and when Sahrbaraz, encamped round
Alexandria, had cut off the supply of Egyptian grain so that the capital
suffered alike from pestilence and scarcity of food. The sole province
which appeared to offer any hope to the exhausted treasury was Africa,
and here only, it seemed, could an effective army be raised. It was with
African troops that Nicetas had won Egypt in 609: even now, with
Carthage as a base of operations, the Persians might surely be re-
pelled and Egypt regained. Thus reasoning, Heraclius prepared to set
sail from Europe (619 ? ). When his determination became known,
ch. ra. 19—2


## p. 292 (#324) ############################################

292 Peace with the Avars [619-622
Constantinople was in despair; the inhabitants refused to see themselves
deserted and the patriarch extracted an oath from the Emperor that he
would not leave his capital. The turbulence of New Rome itself seems
to have been silenced in this dark hour.
In Egypt Nicetas, despairing of the defence of Alexandria, had fled
from the city, and Persians, disguised as fisher-folk,had entered the harbour
at dawn with the other fishing-boats, cutting down any who resisted them,
and had thrown open the gates to the army of Sahrbaraz (June 619).
It did indeed seem that Chosroes was to be the master of the Roman
world. About this time too (we do not know the precise year) the
Persians, having collected a fleet1, attacked Constantinople by water: it
may well have been that this assault was timed to follow close upon the
raid of the Avar horde. But upon the sea at least the Empire asserted
its supremacy. The Persians fled, four thousand men perished with their
ships, and the enemy did not dare to renew the attempt
Heraclius realised that in order to carry war into Asia there must at
all costs be peace in Europe. He sacrificed his pride and concluded a
treaty with the Khagan (619). He raised 200,000 nomismata and sent*
as hostages to the Avars his own bastard son John or Athalarich, his
cousin Stephanus, and John the bastard son of Bonus the magister.
Sergius had forced Heraclius to swear that he would not abandon
Constantinople, and the Church now supplied the funds for the new
campaign. It agreed to lend at interest its vast wealth in plate that
the gold and silver might be minted into money; for this was no ordinary
struggle: it was a crusade to rescue from the infidel the Holy City and
the Holy Cross. Christian State and Christian Church must join hands
against a common foe. While Persian troops overran Asia, penetrating
even to Bithynia and the Black Sea, Heraclius made his preparations
and studied his plan of campaign. From Africa he had been borne to
empire under the protection of the Mother of God, and now it was
with a conviction of the religious solemnity of his mission that he
withdrew into privacy during the winter of 621 before he challenged
the might of the unbeliever. He himself, despite the criticism of his
subjects, would lead his forces in the field: in the strength of the God
of Battles he would conquer or die.
On 4 April 622 Heraclius held a public communion; on the
following day he summoned Sergius the patriarch and Bonus the magister
together with the senate, the principal officials and the entire populace
of the capital. Turning to Sergius, he said: "Into the hands of God
and of His Mother and into thine I commend this city and my son. "
After solemn prayer in the cathedral, the Emperor took the sacred image
of the Saviour and bore it from the church in his arms. The troops
1 These may have been Roman ships captured at Tarsus and other harbours
at this time occupied by Persia.
2 So modern historians: but perhaps these hostages were given in 623.