Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/517

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Chap. XLIII] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 453 Roman censor, the eunuch reproved these disorderly vices, which sullied their fame and endangered their safety. The soldiers blushed and obeyed ; discipline was confirmed, the fortifications were restored ; a duke was stationed for the defence and military command of each of the principal cities; 91 and the eye of Narses pervaded the ample prospect from Calabria to the Alps. The remains of the Gothic nation evacuated the country or mingled with the people ; the Franks, instead of re- venging the death of Buccelin, abandoned, without a struggle, their Italian conquests ; and the rebellious Sindbal, chief of the Heruli, was subdued, taken, and hung on a lofty gallows byu.D. 565] the inflexible justice of the Exarch. 92 The civil state of Italy, after the agitation of a long tempest, was fixed by a pragmatic sanction, which the emperor promulgated at the request of the pope. Justinian introduced his own jurisprudence into the schools and tribunals of the West ; he ratified the acts of Theo- doric and his immediate successors; but every deed was re- scinded and abolished, which force had extorted, or fear had subscribed, under the usurpation of Totila. A moderate theory was framed to reconcile the rights of property with the safety of prescription, the claims of the state with the poverty of the people, and the pardon of offences with the interest of virtue and order of society. Under the Exarchs of Ravenna, Rome was degraded to the second rank. Yet the senators were gratified by the permission of visiting their estates in Italy, and of approaching without obstacle the throne of Constantinople ; the regulation of weights and measures was delegated to the pope and senate ; and the salaries of lawyers and physicians, of orators and gram- marians, were destined to preserve or rekindle the light of science in the ancient capital. Justinian might dictate benevolent edicts, 93 Richard III. our English poet has beautifully enlarged on this idea, for which, however, he was not indebted to the Byzantine historian. 91 Maffei has proved (Verona Illustrata, P. i. 1. x. p. 257, 289), against the common opinion, that the dukes of Italy were instituted before the conquest of the Lombards by Narses himself. In the Pragmatic Sanction (No. 23), Justinian restrains the judices militares. [For the duces or magistri ■ militum in Italy, see Diohl, L'exarchat de Ravenne, 141 sqq.] 92 See Paulus Diaconus, 1. iii. c. 2, p. 776. [See Marius Aventicensis, in Cbron. Min. 2, p. 238, a.d. 566.] Menander (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 133 [fr. 8, ed. Muller]) mentions some risings in Italy by the Franks, and Tneophanes (p. 201) hints at some Gothic rebellions. 93 The Pragmatic Sanction of Justinian, which restores and regulates the civil state of Italy, consists of xxvii. articles : it is dated August 15, a.d. 554 ; is ad- dressed to Narses, V. I. Propositus Sacri Cubiculi, and to Antiochus, Prffifectus