Chapter available in: Next
music, and pantomimes of the theatre, and the hunting of wild beasts; and small pieces of silver were discreetly substituted to the gold medals, which had always excited tumult and drunkenness, when they were scattered with a profuse hand among the populace. Notwithstanding these precautions, and his own example, the succession of consuls finally ceased in the thirteenth year of Justinian, whose despotic temper might be gratified by the silent extinction of a title which admonished the Romans of their ancient freedom. Yet the annual consulship still lived in the minds of the people; they fondly expected its speedy restoration; they applauded the gracious condescension of successive princes, by whom it was assumed in the first year of their reign; and three centuries elapsed, after the death of Justinian, before that obsolete dignity, which had been suppressed by custom, could be abolished by law. The imperfect mode of distinguishing each year by the name of a magistrate, was usefully supplied by the date of a permanent æra: the creation of the world, according to the Septuagint version, was adopted by the Greeks; and the Latins, since the age of Charlemagne, have computed their time from the birth of Christ.
Chapter XLI:
Conquests Of Justinian, Character Of Balisarius.
Part I. Conquests Of Justinian In The West. -- Character And First Campaigns Of Belisarius -- He Invades And Subdues The Vandal Kingdom Of Africa -- His Triumph. -- The Gothic War. - - He Recovers Sicily, Naples, And Rome. -- Siege Of Rome By The Goths. -- Their Retreat And Losses. --