A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

HERACLIUS. HERACLIUS. 403
avds; Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. ii. p. 626, iii. p. 519, lation followed their example; and whatever might
vi. p. 727.) [J. C. M.] have been the secret designs of Crispus, he had no
HERA'CLIUS ('Hpad'cAeos), a Roman emperor chance of prevailing upon the people while a conof the East, reigned from A. D. 610 to 641. The queror filled their souls with admiration and graticharacter of this extraordinary man is a problem; tude. No enmity, however, arose between Herahis reign, signalised by both splendid victories and clius and Crispus, who was rewarded with riches
awful defeats, is the last epoch of ancient Roman and honours, and entrusted with the supreme comgrandeur: he crushed Persia, the hereditary enemy mand against the Persians.:Nicetas, of course,
of Rome, and he vainly opposed his sword to the arrived long after the downfal of the tyrant; but
rise and progress of another enemy, whose followers as he could not traverse so many provinces without
achieved their prophet's prediction, -the extermina- preparing the people for the revolution, he received
tion of the Roman empire in the East. his share, likewise, in the favours of the new emHIeraclius was the son of Heraclius the elder, peror, with whom he continued to live in the most'exarch or governor-general of Africa, who was intimate friendship.
renowned for his victories over the Persians, and The Eastern empire was then in a miserable
who was descended from another Heraclius, of condition. Torn to pieces by political factions,
Edessa, who wrested the province of Tripolitana attacked and ravaged in all quarters by barbarous
from the Vandals during the reign of the emperor and implacable enemies, its ruin was imminent,
Leo the Great. Heraclius the younger, the sub- and a great monarch only could prevent its downject of this notice, was born in Cappadocia, about fal. Heraclius was a great man, and yet he accomA. D. 575. We know little of his earlier life, but plished nothing. He had certainly great defects:
we must suppose that he showed himself worthy of his love of pleasure was unbounded, but his virtues
hsancestors, since in A.D. 610, his father destined were still greater; yet we search in vain for a
him to put an end to the insupportable tyranny of single powerful exertion to extricate himself and
the emperor Phocas. This prince, the assassin of his subjects from their awful position. This seems
the emperor Mauritius, whose throne he had strange and wholly unaccountable; but when we
usurped, committed such unheard-of cruelties, and call to mind his heroic exploits in a subsequent part
misgoverned the empire in so frightful a manner, of his reign, we have every reason for believing
that conspiracies were formed ia all the provinces that he could not act vigorously on account of the
to deprive him of his ill-gotten crown The prin- circumstances in which he was placed, and therecipal conspirator was Crispus, the son-ui-law of fore we are not justified in condemning his inacPhocas, who urged Heraclius the elder to join him tivity.
in the undertaking. During two years the prudent The following was the state of the empire; the
exarch declined rising in open rebellion, but he European provinces between the Bosporus. and the
manifested his hostile intentions by prohibiting the Danube were laid waste by the Bulgarians, Slavoexport of corn from Africa and Egypt into Constan- nians, and, especially the Avars, who, in 619,
tinople, thus creating discontent among the'inhabit- overran and plundered all the country as far as
ants of the capital, who depended almost entirely ConstantinopIe. Heraclius tried all the means
upon the harvests of Africa. He then withheld within his power to persuade them to retreat; and
from the imperial treasury the revenue of his pro- having at last found their king disposed to return
vince, and at last promised open assistance to Cris- to his native wildernesses, he went into his camp,
pus, who had offered him the imperial crown. which was pitched in the neighbourhood of ConThis, however, the exarch declined, alleging his stantinople, for the purpose of concluding a definite
advanced age. In his stead he sent his son Hera- truce through a personal interview. The barbarian
clius with a fleet, and Nicetas, the son of his brother, having pledged his word to refrain from all hosand his lieutenant, Gregorius or Gregoras, with an tilities, the gates of Constantinople were left open,
army, with which they were to proceed through and a motley crowd of soldiers, citizens, and
Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. They started women left the town to witness the interview. No
from.Carthage in the autumn of a.D. 610. There is sooner had Heraclius entered the camp of the
a strange story that tile one who should first arrive Avars, than he was suddenly surrounded by their
at Constantinople should be emperor. But a fleet horsemen, who sabred his escort, and would have
requires only twelve days or a fortnight to sail made him a prisoner but for the swiftness of his
from Africa to the Bosporus, and no army can horse. He succeeded in reaching the town, but
march from Carthage to Constantinople in less than the immense crowd of spectators were less fortuthree months. When Heraclius with his fleet nate. Many of them were unmercifully slain,
appeared off Constantinople, Crispus rose in revolt; others trampled down by the horses, and such was!Heraclits forced the entrance of the Golden Horn; the flight and the eagerness of the pursuit, that
and the emperor, abandoned by his mercenaries, the gates were closed before the last of the fugihid himself in his palace. The ignominious death, tives were in safety, as there was the greatest
which Phocas suffered from the infuriated mob, is danger lest the pursuers should enter the town
related in the life of that emperor [PHocAs]. together with the flying Greeks, and make themWhen Phocas was conducted before Heraclius, selves masters of the capital. The barbarian then
"Is it thus, wretch," exclaimed the victor, " that withdrew, with 250,000 prisoners, into his kingthou misgovernest the empire?" "Govern it dom beyond the Danube. As the part of Illyribetter," was the sturdy answer; and Heraclius, in cum between the Haemus, the Danube, the Adriatic
a fit of vulgar passion, knocked the royal captive sea, and the frontier of Italy was laid waste and
down with his fist, and trampled upon him with his most of its inhabitants slain or carried off, Heraclius
feet. allotted it to the Servians and Croates, with a view
Constantinople was then agitated by two fac- of making them serve as a barrier against the
tions, the blue and the green. The green saluted Avars, and those nations have ever since continued
Heraclius as emperor; the greater part of the popu- to live in that part of Europe. In Italy the exDD 2