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

JUSTINIANUS, JUSTINIAN US. 66
Immense' number of forts and towers, interspersed Justinian' lavished upon the barbarians, involunwith larger regular fortresses, but even most of the tarily led to the system of his administration.
towns in the very heart of Greece, Thrace, and Procopius, in his Secret History or Anecdota, gives
Asia were provided with walls and towers,'to an awful description of it;but however vicious that
protect-the inhabitants against the irresistible in- administration was, the colours of Procopius are
roads of the barbarians. Thence Montesquieu ob- too dark, and his motives in writing that work were
serves, that the Roman empire. at the time of not fair. There was decided order and regularity
Justinian resembled the Frankish kingdom in the in the administration, but the leading principles of
time of the Norman inroads, when, in'spite of every it were suspicion:and avarice. The taxes were so
village being a fortress, the kingdom was weaker heavy, their assessment so unequal, that Gibbon
than at any other period. The entire course of the compares them to a hail-storm that fell upon the
Danube was defended by about eighty forts, of land, and to a devouring pestilence with regard to
different dimensions, all of which were guarded by its inhabitants. In cases of necessity, the inhanumerous garrisons; other fortresses were erected bitants of whole districts were compelled to bring
beyond the river, in the middle of the countries of their stores of corn'to Constantinople, or other
the barbarians. But these detached forts were places where the troops might -be in want of it, and
utterly unable to protect Thrace against an enemy they were either not paid at all, or received such
who used to appear suddenly with overwhelming bad prices that they were often completely ruined.
forces,leaving no alternative to the Roman garrisons In all the provinces the officers of the crown took
than of shutting themselves up within their walls, much more from the people than the law allowed,
and of beholding as inactive spectators the Bul- because the venality of places was carried on openly
garians swimming over the'Danube with 20,000 as a means of filling the emperor's'treasury, and
horses at once, or crossing it in the winter on the the purses of his prime minister; and those who
solid ice. Similar forts were built, too, from the purchased places, which were, after all, badly paid,
junction of' the Save with the Danube north, could not keep their engagements with the sellers,
towards Pannonia, and they proved quite as in- nor enrich themselves, without carrying on that
effective against the Avars as the forts along the system of robbery, which is at the present day the
Danube against the Bulgarians. Italy was fortified general practice in Turkey and most of the other
by nature, yet the Franks crossed the Alps with countries in the East. Justinian certainly tried to
impunity. Thence the necessity of creating a check peculation and venality (Novella, viii.), but
system of inland fortifications. The ancient Greek this thundering edict was soon forgotten, and it
wall across the Thracian Chersonnese, near Con- would seem that the emperor himself lent his enstantinople, was carefully restored, and brought to deavours to throw it into oblivion. Another great
a degree of strength which caused the admiration abuse which the principal officers made of their
bf Procopius; the Bulgarians nevertheless crossed power was that of prevailing upon wealthy persons
it, and fed their horses in the gardens round Con- to make wills in their favour, to the disadvantage
stantinople. Similar walls,' with towers, were of the natural heirs. A great source of revenue for
constructed across Thessaly (beginning with the the imperial treasury consisted'in the numberless
defiles of Thermopylae) and across the isthmus of duties, entryfees,and other charges, mostly arbitrary,
Corinth'; yet Bulgarians, Slavonians, and other laid upon trade and manufactures, and we may
barbarians, kept the inhabitants of' Greece in con- fairly presume that the tradespeople were as much
stant fear of being carried off as slaves. At what-'oppressed as the land-owners. Some branches of
ever point these savage'warriors appeared, they trade, as for instance silk, were made monopolies'vere always the strongest, and the poor Romans of the crown, and, in short, there were no means
-had no other chance of safety left than of taking left untried to fill his treasury. However, he never
refuge within the larger towns, the solid forti- tampered with the coinage, nor gave it an artificial
fications of which were sufficient to keep the value. The millions thus obtained by Justinian
enemy at a distance. In the north-east the isthmus were not only sufficient to cover the expenses
of the Chersonnesus Taurica, the present Crimea, occasioned by the army, the fortifications, the wars,
was fortified in the same way as the isthmus of and the bribery of barbarians, but enough remained.Corinth, by a long wall. The Roman' possessions to enable him to indulge his passion of perpetuating
along the eastern shores of the Euxine and in the his name by public festivals, and especially by those'Caucasus were covered with-forts and military beautiful buildings and monuments which were
stations; and from the -corner of Colchis to the erected by his order, and render his time consources of the Euphrates, and along the river as far spicuous in the history of art. Procopius describes
-as Syria, and thence along the edge of the Syro- them in his work " De Aedificiis Justiniani." The
Arabic'desert, there was scarcely a town or a church of St. Sophia in Constantinople, that splendid
defile but was surrounded by walls and'ditches, or edifice, which, though now transformed into a
shut up by massive barriers of stone, against the Turkish mosque, still excites the admiration'of the
inroads of the Persians. Syria was thought to be spectator, was the most magnificent building erected'sufficiently guarded by the great desert between by Justinian. Besides this Church of St. Sophia,
the Euphrates and the Lebanon, and the fortifica- there were twenty-five other churches constructed in
-tions of the Syrian towns w:re allowed to fall into Constantinople and its suburbs, among which were
decay, till the repeated invasions'of Nushirwin the beautiful churches of St. John the Apostle and
and the sack of Antioch directed the attention of St. Mary the Virgin, near the Blachernae, the
-Justinian to that quarter also. Da'ra,'not far from latter of which he perhaps only repaired. The
Nisibis, was the strongest bulwark of the: empire imperial palace at Constantinople was embellished
on the side of Mesopotainia, and constantly pro- with unparalleled splendour and taste; and' his new
yoked the jealousy of the Persians. palace with the gardens at Heraeum,near Chalcedon,
The enormous sums which the defence of the was praised as the most beautiful residence in the;empire required, together with the gold which world. The "Antiquities of Constanltinople,". by