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

MAURICIUS. MAURIC1US. 97?
insulted in a most poignant manner. Compelled In appointing him, AMaurice committed either a
to rebel or to lose his head, he took up arms great blunder or secretly wished to ruin him. Coagainst the king, and a general defection ensued, mentiolus had no sooner taken the field, when he
during which Hormisdas was seized and blinded suffered a severe defeat from the chagan: 12,000
by Bindoes, a prince of royal blood, who had been Romans remained prisoners of war with the Avars.
ill-treated by his master. Chosroes, the son of We shall speak hereafter of their fate, an event
Hormisdas, now ascended the throne, with the con- intimately connected with'that of the emperor.
sent of Bindoes, and prepared for marching against The honour of the Roman arms was restored in
Baram. The royal troops were defeated, Chosroes five successful battles by the gallant Priscus, but
fled into the Roman territory, and during the en- Comentiolus thwarted his plans by intrigues and
suing troubles in Persia the blinded king, Hormis- treacherous manoeuvres, and at last Priscus was
das, -was murdered by Bindoes, or, as Theophy- again put at the head of the army. In the autumn
]act states, beaten to death by order of his own of 602 he intended to winter along the southern
son, Chosroes. Gibbon rejects the latter account. bank of the Danube, when Maurice ordered him to
WVhen Chosroes, with a few attendants, suddenly take up his quarters on the northern side, where
arrived at the gates of Circesium, the Roman com- they would have been exposed to the attacks of the
mander would scarcely trust his own eyes, and Avars. Some pretend that Maurice gave this order
immediately requested him to remove to the more for the -purpose of sparing the magazines within
stately city of Hierapolis; whence the king sent a the empire; but it would seem as if he rather intouching letter to Maurice, imploring his generous tended to punish those troops for previous acts of
aid for the recovery of his throne. When our pride disobedience and mutiny, by assigning them winis flattered, our honour satisfied, and our heart ter-quarters in an inhospitable country. However
moved at one and the same time, human nature this may be, the measure was imprudent, and
seldom withstands the dictates of its better feel- proved the ruin of the emperor.
ings; Maurice shed tears when he read the letter, Gibbon observes with great justness, that, while
and granted his protection to the royal fugitive. A in the camp alone the emperors ought to have ex-.
powerful army, under the command of Narses, was ercised a despotic command,'it was only in the
assembled on the frontier; loyal Persians flocked camps that his authority was disobeyed and into the Roman camp to serve their legitimate sove- sulted. The spirit of mutiny and arrogance in the
reign; Narses amid Chosroes entered Persia; and army, that hereditary cancer of Roman administrain a decisive battle at Balarath they routed the tion, reigned unabated when Maurice took the
rebel Baram, whose troops were dispersed, while reins of government, and he who met with blind
he himself fled into Turkistan, where he met with obedience when a: mere magister militum, had to
an untimely death, either by poison or grief. Chos- encounter that dangerous mutiny of his Persian
roes now re-ascended the throne of his ancestors army immediately upon exchanging the baton for
(591), and peace and friendship reigned henceforth the sceptre. Nor was this the only outbreak,
between Persia and the empire as long as Maurice though the others were of less magnitude. It has
sat on the throne. Dara and Martyropolis, the been told above that 12,000 Romans were made
bulwarks of Mesopotamia, and the objects of so prisoners of war by the Avars. The trifling suym
many a bloody contest, were given to Maurice as of 6000 pieces of gold was demanded for their
a reward or on condition of his assistance. ransom. Maurice, moved by avarice, as some say,
We now turn to the war with the Avars, of refused to pay it, and now 12,000 veterans were
which our account must be brief. The first war put to death by their captors. The army and the
against the chagan or khan of these barbarians, who nation were deeply indignant at this atrocious
ruled overan extent of country nearly equal to that deed, and cursed Maurice for his abominable conwhich once obeyed Attila, broke out in 587. duct. However, in acting as he did, the emperor
Comentiolus, who commanded against them, being had a powerful though secret motive: those 12,000
unfortunate, Mystacon was sent to supersede him, were the' soldiers of Comentiolus,'it was they who
although he could not boast of much success in had chiefly caused the great mutiny during the
Persia. But his lieutenant Droctulf, a German, Persian war; and in abandoning them' to the fury
who -had long served in the imperial armies, of barbarians, he at once assuaged, his resentment
watched over the blunders of his chief, and in a and got rid of a band of dangerous mercenaries.
pitched battle'so utterly'discomfited the Avars, But his conscience continually reproached him with
that the khan refrained from any incursion during this barbarous act. He wrote to the most eminent
the following five years. The miext war broke out divines of his realm, to receive consolation from
some time after the peace with Persia, and-Maurice their censure or their indulgence; he tried to forget
had leisure to withdraw a great portion of his forces his pangs by redoubled activity in the cabinet. It'
fromin Asia, and employ them against the Avars. was all in vain: he neither recovered the peace of
He intended to put himself at their head, but it was his soul nor the love of his subjects; and the army
already customary at the court of Constantinople bore such hatred against him, that they only seemed
that the emperor should not command in the field, to wait for a suitable pretext'to break out in
and he consequently gave way to the remonstrances open rebellion. His own imprudence furnished
of the senate, and sent Priscus in his stead, who, them with an opportunity, by ordering them, in
however, was soon superseded by the emperor's the autumn of 602, to take up their winter-quarters
brother Peter. The choice was' a bad one, and as on the Avarian side of the Danube. They comearlyas 598 Priscus resumed the supreme command. plained that the emperor desired to sacrifice them,
He was less successful than was expected, though like their 12,000 brethren. They held tumultuous
he was an excellent general, and in 600 the army meetings, which the emperor's brother Peter tried
received a new commander in the person of Co- in vain to counteract; and Phocas having been
mentiolus, that faithless and cowiardly intriguer, chosen by them for the command-in-chief, Peter
whose conduct had been so very suspicious in Asia. had no alternative left but escaping secretly, and
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