Gibbon's The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
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Chapter XLV: State Of Italy Under The Lombards.
Part I.
Reign Of The Younger Justin. - Embassy Of The Avars. - Their
Settlement On The Danube. - Conquest Of Italy By The Lombards. -
Adoption And Reign Of Tiberius. - Of Maurice. - State Of Italy
Under The Lombards And The Exarchs. - Of Ravenna. - Distress Of
Rome. - Character And Pontificate Of Gregory The First.
During the last years of Justinian, his infirm mind was
devoted to heavenly contemplation, and he neglected the business
of the lower world. His subjects were impatient of the long
continuance of his life and reign: yet all who were capable of
reflection apprehended the moment of his death, which might
involve the capital in tumult, and the empire in civil war. Seven
nephews ^1 of the childless monarch, the sons or grandsons of his
brother and sister, had been educated in the splendor of a
princely fortune; they had been shown in high commands to the
provinces and armies; their characters were known, their
followers were zealous, and, as the jealousy of age postponed the
declaration of a successor, they might expect with equal hopes
the inheritance of their uncle. He expired in his palace, after
a reign of thirty-eight years; and the decisive opportunity was
embraced by the friends of Justin, the son of Vigilantia. ^2 At
the hour of midnight, his domestics were awakened by an
importunate crowd, who thundered at his door, and obtained
admittance by revealing themselves to be the principal members of
the senate. These welcome deputies announced the recent and
momentous secret of the emperor's decease; reported, or perhaps
invented, his dying choice of the best beloved and most deserving
of his nephews, and conjured Justin to prevent the disorders of
the multitude, if they should perceive, with the return of light,
that they were left without a master. After composing his
countenance to surprise, sorrow, and decent modesty, Justin, by
the advice of his wife Sophia, submitted to the authority of the
senate. He was conducted with speed and silence to the palace;
the guards saluted their new sovereign; and the martial and
religious rites of his coronation were diligently accomplished.
By the hands of the proper officers he was invested with the
Imperial garments, the red buskins, white tunic, and purple robe.
A fortunate soldier, whom he instantly promoted to the rank of
tribune, encircled his neck with a military collar; four robust
youths exalted him on a shield; he stood firm and erect to
receive the adoration of his subjects; and their choice was
sanctified by the benediction of the patriarch, who imposed the
diadem on the head of an orthodox prince. The hippodrome was
already filled with innumerable multitudes; and no sooner did the
emperor appear on his throne, than the voices of the blue and the
green factions were confounded in the same loyal acclamations.
In the speeches which Justin addressed to the senate and people,
he promised to correct the abuses which had disgraced the age of
his predecessor, displayed the maxims of a just and beneficent
government, and declared that, on the approaching calends of
January, ^3 he would revive in his own person the name and
liberty of a Roman consul. The immediate discharge of his
uncle's debts exhibited a solid pledge of his faith and
generosity: a train of porters, laden with bags of gold, advanced
into the midst of the hippodrome, and the hopeless creditors of
Justinian accepted this equitable payment as a voluntary gift.
Before the end of three years, his example was imitated and
surpassed by the empress Sophia, who delivered many indigent
citizens from the weight of debt and usury: an act of benevolence
the best entitled to gratitude, since it relieves the most
intolerable distress; but in which the bounty of a prince is the
most liable to be abused by the claims of prodigality and fraud.
^4
[Footnote 1: See the family of Justin and Justinian in the
Familiae Byzantine of Ducange, p. 89 - 101. The devout
civilians, Ludewig (in Vit. Justinian. p. 131) and Heineccius
(Hist. Juris. Roman. p. 374) have since illustrated the genealogy
of their favorite prince.]
[Footnote 2: In the story of Justin's elevation I have translated
into simple and concise prose the eight hundred verses of the two
first books of Corippus, de Laudibus Justini Appendix Hist.
Byzant. p. 401 - 416 Rome 1777.]
[Footnote 3: It is surprising how Pagi (Critica. in Annal. Baron.
tom. ii. p 639) could be tempted by any chronicles to contradict
the plain and decisive text of Corippus, (vicina dona, l. ii.
354, vicina dies, l. iv. 1,) and to postpone, till A.D. 567, the
consulship of Justin.]
[Footnote 4: Theophan. Chronograph. p. 205. Whenever Cedrenus or
Zonaras are mere transcribers, it is superfluous to allege their
testimony.]
On the seventh day of his reign, Justin gave audience to the
ambassadors of the Avars, and the scene was decorated to impress
the Barbarians with astonishment, veneration, and terror. From
the palace gate, the spacious courts and long porticos were lined
with the lofty crests and gilt bucklers of the guards, who
presented their spears and axes with more confidence than they
would have shown in a field of battle. The officers who
exercised the power, or attended the person, of the prince, were
attired in their richest habits, and arranged according to the
military and civil order of the hierarchy. When the veil of the
sanctuary was withdrawn, the ambassadors beheld the emperor of
the East on his throne, beneath a canopy, or dome, which was
supported by four columns, and crowned with a winged figure of
Victory. In the first emotions of surprise, they submitted to
the servile adoration of the Byzantine court; but as soon as they
rose from the ground, Targetius, the chief of the embassy,
expressed the freedom and pride of a Barbarian. He extolled, by
the tongue of his interpreter, the greatness of the chagan, by
whose clemency the kingdoms of the South were permitted to exist,
whose victorious subjects had traversed the frozen rivers of
Scythia, and who now covered the banks of the Danube with
innumerable tents. The late emperor had cultivated, with annual
and costly gifts, the friendship of a grateful monarch, and the
enemies of Rome had respected the allies of the Avars. The same
prudence would instruct the nephew of Justinian to imitate the
liberality of his uncle, and to purchase the blessings of peace
from an invincible people, who delighted and excelled in the
exercise of war. The reply of the emperor was delivered in the
same strain of haughty defiance, and he derived his confidence
from the God of the Christians, the ancient glory of Rome, and
the recent triumphs of Justinian. "The empire," said he, "abounds
with men and horses, and arms sufficient to defend our frontiers,
and to chastise the Barbarians. You offer aid, you threaten
hostilities: we despise your enmity and your aid. The conquerors
of the Avars solicit our alliance; shall we dread their fugitives
and exiles? ^5 The bounty of our uncle was granted to your
misery, to your humble prayers. From us you shall receive a more
important obligation, the knowledge of your own weakness. Retire
from our presence; the lives of ambassadors are safe; and, if you
return to implore our pardon, perhaps you will taste of our
benevolence." ^6 On the report of his ambassadors, the chagan was
awed by the apparent firmness of a Roman emperor of whose
character and resources he was ignorant. Instead of executing his
threats against the Eastern empire, he marched into the poor and
savage countries of Germany, which were subject to the dominion
of the Franks. After two doubtful battles, he consented to
retire, and the Austrasian king relieve the distress of his camp
with an immediate supply of corn and cattle. ^7 Such repeated
disappointments had chilled the spirit of the Avars, and their
power would have dissolved away in the Sarmatian desert, if the
alliance of Alboin, king of the Lombards, had not given a new
object to their arms, and a lasting settlement to their wearied
fortunes.
[Footnote 5: Corippus, l. iii. 390. The unquestionable sense
relates to the Turks, the conquerors of the Avars; but the word
scultor has no apparent meaning, and the sole Ms. of Corippus,
from whence the first edition (1581, apud Plantin) was printed,
is no longer visible. The last editor, Foggini of Rome, has
inserted the conjectural emendation of soldan: but the proofs of
Ducange, (Joinville, Dissert. xvi. p. 238 - 240,) for the early
use of this title among the Turks and Persians, are weak or
ambiguous. And I must incline to the authority of D'Herbelot,
(Bibliotheque Orient. p. 825,) who ascribes the word to the
Arabic and Chaldaean tongues, and the date to the beginning of
the xith century, when it was bestowed by the khalif of Bagdad on
Mahmud, prince of Gazna, and conqueror of India.]
[Footnote 6: For these characteristic speeches, compare the verse
of Corippus (l. iii. 251 - 401) with the prose of Menander,
(Excerpt. Legation. p 102, 103.) Their diversity proves that they
did not copy each other their resemblance, that they drew from a
common original.]
[Footnote 7: For the Austrasian war, see Menander (Excerpt.
Legat. p. 110,) Gregory of Tours, (Hist. Franc. l. iv. c 29,) and
Paul the deacon, (de Gest. Langobard. l. ii. c. 10.)]
While Alboin served under his father's standard, he
encountered in battle, and transpierced with his lance, the rival
prince of the Gepidae. The Lombards, who applauded such early
prowess, requested his father, with unanimous acclamations, that
the heroic youth, who had shared the dangers of the field, might
be admitted to the feast of victory. "You are not unmindful,"
replied the inflexible Audoin, "of the wise customs of our
ancestors. Whatever may be his merit, a prince is incapable of
sitting at table with his father till he has received his arms
from a foreign and royal hand." Alboin bowed with reverence to
the institutions of his country, selected forty companions, and
boldly visited the court of Turisund, king of the Gepidae, who
embraced and entertained, according to the laws of hospitality,
the murderer of his son. At the banquet, whilst Alboin occupied
the seat of the youth whom he had slain, a tender remembrance
arose in the mind of Turisund. "How dear is that place! how
hateful is that person!" were the words that escaped, with a
sigh, from the indignant father. His grief exasperated the
national resentment of the Gepidae; and Cunimund, his surviving
son, was provoked by wine, or fraternal affection, to the desire
of vengeance. "The Lombards," said the rude Barbarian,
"resemble, in figure and in smell, the mares of our Sarmatian
plains." And this insult was a coarse allusion to the white bands
which enveloped their legs. "Add another resemblance," replied
an audacious Lombard; "you have felt how strongly they kick.
Visit the plain of Asfield, and seek for the bones of thy
brother: they are mingled with those of the vilest animals." The
Gepidae, a nation of warriors, started from their seats, and the
fearless Alboin, with his forty companions, laid their hands on
their swords. The tumult was appeased by the venerable
interposition of Turisund. He saved his own honor, and the life
of his guest; and, after the solemn rites of investiture,
dismissed the stranger in the bloody arms of his son; the gift of
a weeping parent. Alboin returned in triumph; and the Lombards,
who celebrated his matchless intrepidity, were compelled to
praise the virtues of an enemy. ^8 In this extraordinary visit he
had probably seen the daughter of Cunimund, who soon after
ascended the throne of the Gepidae. Her name was Rosamond, an
appellation expressive of female beauty, and which our own
history or romance has consecrated to amorous tales. The king of
the Lombards (the father of Alboin no longer lived) was
contracted to the granddaughter of Clovis; but the restraints of
faith and policy soon yielded to the hope of possessing the fair
Rosamond, and of insulting her family and nation. The arts of
persuasion were tried without success; and the impatient lover,
by force and stratagem, obtained the object of his desires. War
was the consequence which he foresaw and solicited; but the
Lombards could not long withstand the furious assault of the
Gepidae, who were sustained by a Roman army. And, as the offer
of marriage was rejected with contempt, Alboin was compelled to
relinquish his prey, and to partake of the disgrace which he had
inflicted on the house of Cunimund. ^9
[Footnote 8: Paul Warnefrid, the deacon of Friuli, de Gest.
Langobard. l. i. c. 23, 24. His pictures of national manners,
though rudely sketched are more lively and faithful than those of
Bede, or Gregory of Tours]
[Footnote 9: The story is told by an impostor, (Theophylact.
Simocat. l. vi. c. 10;) but he had art enough to build his
fictions on public and notorious facts.]
When a public quarrel is envenomed by private injuries, a
blow that is not mortal or decisive can be productive only of a
short truce, which allows the unsuccessful combatant to sharpen
his arms for a new encounter. The strength of Alboin had been
found unequal to the gratification of his love, ambition, and
revenge: he condescended to implore the formidable aid of the
chagan; and the arguments that he employed are expressive of the
art and policy of the Barbarians. In the attack of the Gepidae,
he had been prompted by the just desire of extirpating a people
whom their alliance with the Roman empire had rendered the common
enemies of the nations, and the personal adversaries of the
chagan. If the forces of the Avars and the Lombards should unite
in this glorious quarrel, the victory was secure, and the reward
inestimable: the Danube, the Hebrus, Italy, and Constantinople,
would be exposed, without a barrier, to their invincible arms.
But, if they hesitated or delayed to prevent the malice of the
Romans, the same spirit which had insulted would pursue the Avars
to the extremity of the earth. These specious reasons were heard
by the chagan with coldness and disdain: he detained the Lombard
ambassadors in his camp, protracted the negotiation, and by turns
alleged his want of inclination, or his want of ability, to
undertake this important enterprise. At length he signified the
ultimate price of his alliance, that the Lombards should
immediately present him with a tithe of their cattle; that the
spoils and captives should be equally divided; but that the lands
of the Gepidae should become the sole patrimony of the Avars.
Such hard conditions were eagerly accepted by the passions of
Alboin; and, as the Romans were dissatisfied with the ingratitude
and perfidy of the Gepidae, Justin abandoned that incorrigible
people to their fate, and remained the tranquil spectator of this
unequal conflict. The despair of Cunimund was active and
dangerous. He was informed that the Avars had entered his
confines; but, on the strong assurance that, after the defeat of
the Lombards, these foreign invaders would easily be repelled, he
rushed forwards to encounter the implacable enemy of his name and
family. But the courage of the Gepidae could secure them no more
than an honorable death. The bravest of the nation fell in the
field of battle; the king of the Lombards contemplated with
delight the head of Cunimund; and his skull was fashioned into a
cup to satiate the hatred of the conqueror, or, perhaps, to
comply with the savage custom of his country. ^10 After this
victory, no further obstacle could impede the progress of the
confederates, and they faithfully executed the terms of their
agreement. ^11 The fair countries of Walachia, Moldavia,
Transylvania, and the other parts of Hungary beyond the Danube,
were occupied, without resistance, by a new colony of Scythians;
and the Dacian empire of the chagans subsisted with splendor
above two hundred and thirty years. The nation of the Gepidae
was dissolved; but, in the distribution of the captives, the
slaves of the Avars were less fortunate than the companions of
the Lombards, whose generosity adopted a valiant foe, and whose
freedom was incompatible with cool and deliberate tyranny. One
moiety of the spoil introduced into the camp of Alboin more
wealth than a Barbarian could readily compute. The fair Rosamond
was persuaded, or compelled, to acknowledge the rights of her
victorious lover; and the daughter of Cunimund appeared to
forgive those crimes which might be imputed to her own
irresistible charms.
[Footnote 10: It appears from Strabo, Pliny, and Ammianus
Marcellinus, that the same practice was common among the Scythian
tribes, (Muratori, Scriptores Rer. Italic. tom. i. p. 424.) The
scalps of North America are likewise trophies of valor. The
skull of Cunimund was preserved above two hundred years among the
Lombards; and Paul himself was one of the guests to whom Duke
Ratchis exhibited this cup on a high festival, (l. ii. c. 28.)]
[Footnote 11: Paul, l. i. c. 27. Menander, in Excerpt Legat. p.
110, 111.]
The destruction of a mighty kingdom established the fame of
Alboin. In the days of Charlemagne, the Bavarians, the Saxons,
and the other tribes of the Teutonic language, still repeated the
songs which described the heroic virtues, the valor, liberality,
and fortune of the king of the Lombards. ^12 But his ambition was
yet unsatisfied; and the conqueror of the Gepidae turned his eyes
from the Danube to the richer banks of the Po, and the Tyber.
Fifteen years had not elapsed, since his subjects, the
confederates of Narses, had visited the pleasant climate of
Italy: the mountains, the rivers, the highways, were familiar to
their memory: the report of their success, perhaps the view of
their spoils, had kindled in the rising generation the flame of
emulation and enterprise. Their hopes were encouraged by the
spirit and eloquence of Alboin: and it is affirmed, that he spoke
to their senses, by producing at the royal feast, the fairest and
most exquisite fruits that grew spontaneously in the garden of
the world. No sooner had he erected his standard, than the
native strength of the Lombard was multiplied by the adventurous
youth of Germany and Scythia. The robust peasantry of Noricum
and Pannonia had resumed the manners of Barbarians; and the names
of the Gepidae, Bulgarians, Sarmatians, and Bavarians, may be
distinctly traced in the provinces of Italy. ^13 Of the Saxons,
the old allies of the Lombards, twenty thousand warriors, with
their wives and children, accepted the invitation of Alboin.
Their bravery contributed to his success; but the accession or
the absence of their numbers was not sensibly felt in the
magnitude of his host. Every mode of religion was freely
practised by its respective votaries. The king of the Lombards
had been educated in the Arian heresy; but the Catholics, in
their public worship, were allowed to pray for his conversion;
while the more stubborn Barbarians sacrificed a she-goat, or
perhaps a captive, to the gods of their fathers. ^14 The
Lombards, and their confederates, were united by their common
attachment to a chief, who excelled in all the virtues and vices
of a savage hero; and the vigilance of Alboin provided an ample
magazine of offensive and defensive arms for the use of the
expedition. The portable wealth of the Lombards attended the
march: their lands they cheerfully relinquished to the Avars, on
the solemn promise, which was made and accepted without a smile,
that if they failed in the conquest of Italy, these voluntary
exiles should be reinstated in their former possessions.
[Footnote 12: Ut hactenus etiam tam apud Bajoarior um gentem,
quam et Saxmum, sed et alios ejusdem linguae homines .... . in
eorum carmini bus celebretur. Paul, l. i. c. 27. He died A.D.
799, (Muratori, in Praefat. tom. i. p. 397.) These German songs,
some of which might be as old as Tacitus, (de Moribus Germ. c.
2,) were compiled and transcribed by Charlemagne. Barbara et
antiquissima carmina, quibus veterum regum actus et bella
canebantur scripsit memoriaeque mandavit, (Eginard, in Vit.
Carol. Magn. c. 29, p. 130, 131.) The poems, which Goldast
commends, (Animadvers. ad Eginard. p. 207,) appear to be recent
and contemptible romances.]
[Footnote 13: The other nations are rehearsed by Paul, (l. ii. c.
6, 26,) Muratori (Antichita Italiane, tom. i. dissert. i. p. 4)
has discovered the village of the Bavarians, three miles from
Modena.]
[Footnote 14: Gregory the Roman (Dialog. l. i. iii. c. 27, 28,
apud Baron. Annal Eccles. A.D. 579, No. 10) supposes that they
likewise adored this she- goat. I know but of one religion in
which the god and the victim are the same.]
They might have failed, if Narses had been the antagonist of
the Lombards; and the veteran warriors, the associates of his
Gothic victory, would have encountered with reluctance an enemy
whom they dreaded and esteemed. But the weakness of the
Byzantine court was subservient to the Barbarian cause; and it
was for the ruin of Italy, that the emperor once listened to the
complaints of his subjects. The virtues of Narses were stained
with avarice; and, in his provincial reign of fifteen years, he
accumulated a treasure of gold and silver which surpassed the
modesty of a private fortune. His government was oppressive or
unpopular, and the general discontent was expressed with freedom
by the deputies of Rome. Before the throne of Justinian they
boldly declared, that their Gothic servitude had been more
tolerable than the despotism of a Greek eunuch; and that, unless
their tyrant were instantly removed, they would consult their own
happiness in the choice of a master. The apprehension of a
revolt was urged by the voice of envy and detraction, which had
so recently triumphed over the merit of Belisarius. A new
exarch, Longinus, was appointed to supersede the conqueror of
Italy, and the base motives of his recall were revealed in the
insulting mandate of the empress Sophia, "that he should leave to
men the exercise of arms, and return to his proper station among
the maidens of the palace, where a distaff should be again placed
in the hand of the eunuch." "I will spin her such a thread as she
shall not easily unravel!" is said to have been the reply which
indignation and conscious virtue extorted from the hero. Instead
of attending, a slave and a victim, at the gate of the Byzantine
palace, he retired to Naples, from whence (if any credit is due
to the belief of the times) Narses invited the Lombards to
chastise the ingratitude of the prince and people. ^15 But the
passions of the people are furious and changeable, and the Romans
soon recollected the merits, or dreaded the resentment, of their
victorious general. By the mediation of the pope, who undertook
a special pilgrimage to Naples, their repentance was accepted;
and Narses, assuming a milder aspect and a more dutiful language,
consented to fix his residence in the Capitol. His death, ^16
though in the extreme period of old age, was unseasonable and
premature, since his genius alone could have repaired the last
and fatal error of his life. The reality, or the suspicion, of a
conspiracy disarmed and disunited the Italians. The soldiers
resented the disgrace, and bewailed the loss, of their general.
They were ignorant of their new exarch; and Longinus was himself
ignorant of the state of the army and the province. In the
preceding years Italy had been desolated by pestilence and
famine, and a disaffected people ascribed the calamities of
nature to the guilt or folly of their rulers. ^17
[Footnote 15: The charge of the deacon against Narses (l. ii. c.
-
may be groundless; but the weak apology of the Cardinal
(Baron. Annal Eccles. A.D. 567, No. 8 - 12) is rejected by the
best critics - Pagi (tom. ii. p. 639, 640,) Muratori, (Annali d'
Italia, tom. v. p. 160 - 163,) and the last editors, Horatius
Blancus, (Script. Rerum Italic. tom. i. p. 427, 428,) and Philip
Argelatus, (Sigon. Opera, tom. ii. p. 11, 12.) The Narses who
assisted at the coronation of Justin (Corippus, l. iii. 221) is
clearly understood to be a different person.]
[Footnote 16: The death of Narses is mentioned by Paul, l. ii. c.
-
Anastas. in Vit. Johan. iii. p. 43. Agnellus, Liber
Pontifical. Raven. in Script. Rer. Italicarum, tom. ii. part i.
-
114, 124. Yet I cannot believe with Agnellus that Narses was
ninety-five years of age. Is it probable that all his exploits
were performed at fourscore?]
[Footnote 17: The designs of Narses and of the Lombards for the
invasion of Italy are exposed in the last chapter of the first
book, and the seven last chapters of the second book, of Paul the
deacon.]
Whatever might be the grounds of his security, Alboin
neither expected nor encountered a Roman army in the field. He
ascended the Julian Alps, and looked down with contempt and
desire on the fruitful plains to which his victory communicated
the perpetual appellation of Lombardy. A faithful chieftain, and
a select band, were stationed at Forum Julii, the modern Friuli,
to guard the passes of the mountains. The Lombards respected the
strength of Pavia, and listened to the prayers of the Trevisans:
their slow and heavy multitudes proceeded to occupy the palace
and city of Verona; and Milan, now rising from her ashes, was
invested by the powers of Alboin five months after his departure
from Pannonia. Terror preceded his march: he found every where,
or he left, a dreary solitude; and the pusillanimous Italians
presumed, without a trial, that the stranger was invincible.
Escaping to lakes, or rocks, or morasses, the affrighted crowds
concealed some fragments of their wealth, and delayed the moment
of their servitude. Paulinus, the patriarch of Aquileia, removed
his treasures, sacred and profane, to the Isle of Grado, ^18 and
his successors were adopted by the infant republic of Venice,
which was continually enriched by the public calamities.
Honoratus, who filled the chair of St. Ambrose, had credulously
accepted the faithless offers of a capitulation; and the
archbishop, with the clergy and nobles of Milan, were driven by
the perfidy of Alboin to seek a refuge in the less accessible
ramparts of Genoa. Along the maritime coast, the courage of the
inhabitants was supported by the facility of supply, the hopes of
relief, and the power of escape; but from the Trentine hills to
the gates of Ravenna and Rome the inland regions of Italy became,
without a battle or a siege, the lasting patrimony of the
Lombards. The submission of the people invited the Barbarian to
assume the character of a lawful sovereign, and the helpless
exarch was confined to the office of announcing to the emperor
Justin the rapid and irretrievable loss of his provinces and
cities. ^19 One city, which had been diligently fortified by the
Goths, resisted the arms of a new invader; and while Italy was
subdued by the flying detachments of the Lombards, the royal camp
was fixed above three years before the western gate of Ticinum,
or Pavia. The same courage which obtains the esteem of a
civilized enemy provokes the fury of a savage, and the impatient
besieger had bound himself by a tremendous oath, that age, and
sex, and dignity, should be confounded in a general massacre.
The aid of famine at length enabled him to execute his bloody
vow; but, as Alboin entered the gate, his horse stumbled, fell,
and could not be raised from the ground. One of his attendants
was prompted by compassion, or piety, to interpret this
miraculous sign of the wrath of Heaven: the conqueror paused and
relented; he sheathed his sword, and peacefully reposing himself
in the palace of Theodoric, proclaimed to the trembling multitude
that they should live and obey. Delighted with the situation of
a city which was endeared to his pride by the difficulty of the
purchase, the prince of the Lombards disdained the ancient
glories of Milan; and Pavia, during some ages, was respected as
the capital of the kingdom of Italy. ^20
[Footnote 18: Which from this translation was called New
Aquileia, (Chron. Venet. p. 3.) The patriarch of Grado soon
became the first citizen of the republic, (p. 9, &c.,) but his
seat was not removed to Venice till the year 1450. He is now
decorated with titles and honors; but the genius of the church
has bowed to that of the state, and the government of a Catholic
city is strictly Presbyterian. Thomassin, Discipline de
l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 156, 157, 161 - 165. Amelot de la Houssaye,
Gouvernement de Venise, tom. i. p. 256 - 261.]
[Footnote 19: Paul has given a description of Italy, as it was
then divided into eighteen regions, (l. ii. c. 14 - 24.) The
Dissertatio Chorographica de Italia Medii Aevi, by Father
Beretti, a Benedictine monk, and regius professor at Pavia, has
been usefully consulted.]
[Footnote 20: For the conquest of Italy, see the original
materials of Paul, (l. p. 7 - 10, 12, 14, 25, 26, 27,) the
eloquent narrative of Sigonius, tom. il. de Regno Italiae, l. i.
-
13 - 19,) and the correct and critical review el Muratori,
(Annali d' Italia, tom. v. p. 164 - 180.)]
The reign of the founder was splendid and transient; and,
before he could regulate his new conquests, Alboin fell a
sacrifice to domestic treason and female revenge. In a palace
near Verona, which had not been erected for the Barbarians, he
feasted the companions of his arms; intoxication was the reward
of valor, and the king himself was tempted by appetite, or
vanity, to exceed the ordinary measure of his intemperance.
After draining many capacious bowls of Rhaetian or Falernian
wine, he called for the skull of Cunimund, the noblest and most
precious ornament of his sideboard. The cup of victory was
accepted with horrid applause by the circle of the Lombard
chiefs. "Fill it again with wine," exclaimed the inhuman
conqueror, "fill it to the brim: carry this goblet to the queen,
and request in my name that she would rejoice with her father."
In an agony of grief and rage, Rosamond had strength to utter,
"Let the will of my lord be obeyed!" and, touching it with her
lips, pronounced a silent imprecation, that the insult should be
washed away in the blood of Alboin. Some indulgence might be due
to the resentment of a daughter, if she had not already violated
the duties of a wife. Implacable in her enmity, or inconstant in
her love, the queen of Italy had stooped from the throne to the
arms of a subject, and Helmichis, the king's armor-bearer, was
the secret minister of her pleasure and revenge. Against the
proposal of the murder, he could no longer urge the scruples of
fidelity or gratitude; but Helmichis trembled when he revolved
the danger as well as the guilt, when he recollected the
matchless strength and intrepidity of a warrior whom he had so
often attended in the field of battle. He pressed and obtained,
that one of the bravest champions of the Lombards should be
associated to the enterprise; but no more than a promise of
secrecy could be drawn from the gallant Peredeus, and the mode of
seduction employed by Rosamond betrays her shameless
insensibility both to honor and love. She supplied the place of
one of her female attendants who was beloved by Peredeus, and
contrived some excuse for darkness and silence, till she could
inform her companion that he had enjoyed the queen of the
Lombards, and that his own death, or the death of Alboin, must be
the consequence of such treasonable adultery. In this
alternative he chose rather to be the accomplice than the victim
of Rosamond, ^21 whose undaunted spirit was incapable of fear or
remorse. She expected and soon found a favorable moment, when
the king, oppressed with wine, had retired from the table to his
afternoon slumbers. His faithless spouse was anxious for his
health and repose: the gates of the palace were shut, the arms
removed, the attendants dismissed, and Rosamond, after lulling
him to rest by her tender caresses, unbolted the chamber door,
and urged the reluctant conspirators to the instant execution of
the deed. On the first alarm, the warrior started from his
couch: his sword, which he attempted to draw, had been fastened
to the scabbard by the hand of Rosamond; and a small stool, his
only weapon, could not long protect him from the spears of the
assassins. The daughter of Cunimund smiled in his fall: his body
was buried under the staircase of the palace; and the grateful
posterity of the Lombards revered the tomb and the memory of
their victorious leader.
[Footnote 21: The classical reader will recollect the wife and
murder of Candaules, so agreeably told in the first book of
Herodotus. The choice of Gyges, may serve as the excuse of
Peredeus; and this soft insinuation of an odious idea has been
imitated by the best writers of antiquity, (Graevius, ad Ciceron.
Orat. pro Miloue c. 10)]
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