284 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xl silence on the schools of Athens, and excited the grief and indignation of the few remaining votaries of Grecian science and superstition. Seven friends and philosophers, Diogenes and Hermias, Eulalius and Priscian, Damascius, Isidore, and Simplicius, who dissented from the religion of their sovereign, embraced the resolution of seeking, in a foreign land, the freedom which was denied in their native country. They had heard, and they credulously believed, that the republic of Plato was realized in the despotic government of Persia, and that a patriotic king reigned over the happiest and most virtuous of nations. They were soon astonished by the natural discovery that Persia resembled the other countries of the globe ; that Chosroes, who affected the name of a philosopher, was vain, cruel, and ambitious ; that bigotry, and a spirit of intolerance prevailed among the Magi ; that the nobles were haughty, the courtiers servile, and the magistrates unjust ; that the guilty sometimes escaped, and that the innocent were often oppressed. The disappointment of the philosophers provoked them to over- look the real virtues of the Persians ; and they were scandalized, more deeply perhaps than became their profession, with the plurality of wives and concubines, the incestuous marriages, and the custom of exposing dead bodies to the dogs and vultures, instead of hiding them in the earth or consuming them with fire. Their repentance was expressed by a precipitate return, and they loudly declared that they had rather die on the borders of the empire than enjoy the wealth and favour of the Barbarian. From this journey, however, they derived a benefit which reflects the purest lustre on the character of Chosroes. Procopius, Anecd. c. 26 (p. 158, ed. Haury), ctAAa ical robs larpovs reKafiifiao-Ka.ovs t o> v £ev6epl<cv ruiv avaynaloov o~repei<r6a.i ireTroiriKf. rds re yap artrrjcreis &s oi irpirfpov /3cfia<rievK6r€S £k rod fir]/j.ocriov xopriyt^o'dai rovrois fir) rots iirirrififVfxacTiv era^av, ravras fir) ovros a.<p(iero irdaas- It should be observed that the teaching of law was expressly forbidden. The study of jurisprudence was to be limited to the schools of Constantinople and Berytus. The statement of Malalas that Justinian sent his Code, a.d. 529, to Athens and Berytus, is remarkable, and has been used, by Gregorovius to throw doubt on the other statement of Malalas, by Hertzberg to support it. We may grant Gregorovius that there was no solemn formal aboli- tion of the schools, but there is no reason to question that they were directly and suddenly suppressed through a rescript to the proconsul. The matter is noticed by Krumbacher, Gesch. der byz. Litteratur (ed. 2), p. 6, and Gelzer, ib. p. 940, who rightly says, " Justinian confiscated the property of the Platonic Academy, and forbade at the University of Athens teaching in philosophy and law ". Cp. Diehl, Justinien, p. 564, who observes : " on a souvent exagere l'importance de cet episode : ce ne fut en realite qu'un incident qui frappa assez peu les contempor- ains".]
