tion proceeded, the King inquired: "Which of your kings is the greater and the more powerful?" The elderly Persian, snatching the word, answered: "Our king is both the more powerful and the greater and richer, and indeed is King of Kings, and whatsoever he desires, that he is able to do." Sopatrus, on the other hand sat mute. So the King asked: "Have you, Roman, nothing to say?" "What have I to say," he rejoined, "when he there has said such things? But if you wish to learn the truth you have the two kings here present. Examine each and you will see which of them is the grander and the more powerful." The King, upon hearing this, was amazed at his words and asked: "How say you that I have both kings here?" "You have," replied Sopatrus, "the money of both the nomisma of one, and the drachma, that is, the miliarision of the other. Examine the image of each and you will see the truth. . . . ." After having examined them, the King said that the Romans were certainly a splendid, powerful, and sagacious people. So he ordered great honor to be paid to Sopatrus, causing him to be mounted on an elephant and conducted round the city with drums beating and high state. These circumstances were told us by Sopatrus himself and his companions, who had accompanied him to that island from Adule; and as they told the story, the Persian was deeply chagrined at what had occurred.66

In addition to the historical-geographical value, the work of Cosmas is also of great artistic value because of the numerous pictures (miniatures) which adorn his text. It is likely that some of these pictures were the work of the author himself. The original manuscript of the sixth century has not come down to us, but the later manuscripts of The Christian Topography contain copies of the original miniatures and thus serve as a valuable source for the history of early Byzantine, especially Alexandrine, art. "The miniatures in the work of Cosmas," says N. P. Kondakov, "are more characteristic of Byzantine art of the period of Justinian, or rather

66 Cosmas, op. cit., lib. XI, 338; Migne, t. 88, cols. 448-49; MacCrindle, pp. 368-70. This story appears to be traditional, as Pliny relates a somewhat similar anecdote of the ambassadors from Ceylon in the reign of Claudius. Plinii, Naturalis Historia, VI, 85. See J. E. Tennent, Ceylon (5th ed., London, 1860), I, Part V, chap. i, 566.

of the brilliant part of his reign, than any other monument of that period, except some of the mosaics at Ravenna.”67

The work of Cosmas was later translated into Slavonic and became widely spread among the Slavs. There exist numerous Russian versions of The Christian Topography supplemented with the portrait of Cosmas Indicopleustes and numerous pictures and miniatures which are of much interest in the history of old Russian art.68

Justinian made it his aim to free Byzantine commerce of its dependence on Persia, as we have pointed out previously. This involved establishing direct communication with India by way of the Red Sea. The northeastern corner of the Red Sea (in the Gulf of Akaba) was occupied by the Byzantine port, Ayla, whence Indian wares could be transported by a land route through Palestine and Syria to the Mediterranean Sea. Another port, Clysma (near present-day Suez), was situated on the northwestern shore of the Red Sea, and from it was directly connected with the Mediterranean Sea. On one of the islands at the entrance to the Gulf of Akaba, near the southern extremity of the Sinai peninsula, a custom house for bygoing vessels was established during Justinian's reign. But the number of Byzantine ships in the Red Sea was not sufficient for carrying on a regulated commerce. This fact forced Justinian to establish close relations with the Christian Abyssinians in the Kingdom of Axum, urging them to buy silk in India and then resell it to the Byzantine Empire. He apparently wanted them to play the part of trade mediators between the Byzantine Empire and India, as the Persians had done up to that time. But these attempts on the part of the Emperor were not successful, for the Abyssinian merchants could not compete with Persian influence in India and the monopoly of silk buying still remained in the hands of Persian merchants. In the end Justinian did not succeed in opening up new routes for direct trade with the East. In intervals of peace the Persians still remained the mediators in the most important trade, and continued to make large profits.

67 Kondakov, Histoire de l'art byzantin considéré principalement dans les miniatures (Paris, 1886), I, 138; the same in Russian (Odessa, 1876), p. 88.

es See E. Redin, The Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes, from Greek and Russian Versions, edited by D. V. Aïnalov (Moscow, 1916). Contains many illustrations and plates. In Russian.

Chance came to the aid of Justinian and helped him solve the highly significant problem of the Empire's silk trade. Several monks, or, according to another source, a Persian,69 succeeded, by deceiving the watchfulness of the Chinese inspectors, in procuring some eggs of silkworms, which they brought to the Byzantine Empire and there taught the art of cultivating silk cocoons to the Greeks. The new industry progressed very rapidly and large plantations of mulberry trees appeared shortly. Factories for the weaving of silk stuffs were established within a short period of time. The most important of these silk factories were situated in Constantinople; others were founded in the Syrian cities of Berytus, Tyre, and Antioch, and still later several factories sprang up in Greece, mainly in the city of Thebes. The silk industry became a state monopoly and yielded the government a large income. Byzantine silk stuffs were carried to all parts of Western Europe and adorned the palaces of western kings and the private residences of rich merchants. All this caused some highly significant changes in the Byzantine commerce of Justinian's period. The enormous income from the silk industry did not, however, provide sufficient means for meliorating the generally critical financial situation in the Empire.

Mindful of all sides of government life, Justinian undertook the colossal task of defending the Empire from the attacks of enemies by constructing a number of fortresses and well-protected border lines. In a few years he erected on all the borders of the Empire an almost uninterrupted line of fortifications (castella), in Northern Africa, on the shores of the Danube and Euphrates, in the mountains of Armenia, and on the distant Crimean peninsula, thus restoring and enlarging the remarkable defensive system created by Rome during an earlier period. By this constructive work Justinian "saved the empire," according to Procopius." Elsewhere, in his work On Buildings, Procopius writes, "If we were to enumerate the fortresses, which were erected here by the Emperor Justinian, to people living in distant foreign lands, deprived of the opportunity to verify personally our words, I am convinced that the number of 69 Procopii, De bello gothico (ed. Haury, II, 576): several monks. Excerpta e Theophanis Historia, ed. Bonn., p. 484; ed. L. Dindorf, Historici graeci minores, I, 447: one Persian.

To Procopii, De aedificiis, II, 1, 3 (ed. Bonn., p. 209; Haury, III, 2, 46).

constructions would seem to them fabulous and completely incredible." ."71 Even in our present age the existing ruins of numerous fortresses along the borders of the former Byzantine Empire astonish the modern traveler.

Justinian did not limit his constructive plans to the building of fortifications. As a Christian emperor he fostered the construction of many temples, of which the incomparable St. Sophia of Constantinople stands out as an epoch-making event in the history of Byzantine art. Of St. Sophia we shall speak later.

The immediate successors of Justinian. Their religious policy. Maurice. Persia. The Slavs and the Avars. The formation of the exarchates. The tyranny of Phocas. The revolution of 610.-When the powerful figure of Justinian disappeared from the stage of history, his entire artificial system of government, which had temporarily kept the Empire in proper balance, fell to ruin. "At his death," says Bury, "the winds were loosed from prison; the disintegrating elements began to operate with full force; the artificial system collapsed; and the metamorphosis in the character of the empire, which had been surely progressing for a long time past, though one is apt to overlook it amid the striking events of Justinian's busy reign, now began to work rapidly and perceptibly."

1972

The time between the year 565 and 610 belongs to one of the most cheerless periods in Byzantine history, when anarchy, poverty, and plagues raged throughout the Empire. The confusion of this period forced John of Ephesus, the historian of the time of Justin II, to speak of the approaching end of the world." The English historian, Finlay, writes about this period that "there is perhaps no period of history in which society was so universally in a state of demoralization.”74

The direct successors of Justinian were, as we stated, Justin II, the Younger (565-78), Tiberius II (578-82), Maurice (582–602), and Phocas (602-10). The most outstanding of these four rulers was the energetic soldier and able leader, Maurice. Sophia, the

11 Ibid., IV, 4, 1 (Bonn., p. 277; Haury, III, 2, 116).

72 Bury, A History of the Later Roman Empire (London, 1889), II, 67.

73 John of Ephesus, The Eccles. History, I, 3 (translated by Payne Smith, p. 3).

14 Finlay, A History of Greece, ed. by Tozer (Oxford, 1877), I, 298.

strong-willed wife of Justin II, exerted much influence on government affairs and greatly resembled Theodora in this respect.

The most significant events in the external affairs of the Empire during this period were the Persian War, the struggle with the Slavs and Avars in the Balkan peninsula, and the Lombard conquest of Italy. In the internal life of the Empire we must keep in mind the firmly orthodox policy of the emperors of this period and the formation of two exarchates.

The fifty-years' truce with Persia established in the year 562 by Justinian was broken under Justin II, who refused to continue the payment of the set annual sum. At this time the common hostility to Persia brought about the development of interesting relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Turks, who had appeared shortly before this period in Western Asia and along the shores of the Caspian Sea. They occupied the territory between China and Persia, and viewed Persia as their main enemy. A Turkish embassy crossed the Caucasian Mountains, and after a long journey reached Constantinople, where they were accorded an amiable reception. Plans were beginning to develop for a sort of offensive and defensive Turco-Byzantine alliance against Persia. In this connection it is extremely interesting to note the proposal of the Turkish embassy to the Byzantine government to mediate in the silk trade with China, avoiding Persian interference. In other words, the Turks proposed to the Emperor the very thing which Justinian had striven to attain, the only difference being that Justinian had hoped to arrange this by a southern sea route with the aid of the Abyssinians, while the Turks in the time of Justin II were considering the northern route by land. The Turco-Byzantine negotiations did not culminate, however, in the formation of a real alliance for the combined action against Persia, because the Byzantine Empire at the end of the sixties was more concerned with western developments, particularly in Italy, which was being attacked by the Lombards. Besides, the Turkish military forces did not seem very considerable to Justin.

During the reigns of Justin, Tiberius, and Maurice two wars were conducted against the Persians. The first terminated in the confirmation of the obligation on the part of the Byzantine Empire to pay to Persia an annual tribute; while the second war was con