272

THE DECLINE AND PALL

CHAP.

XUI.

might inscribe on his trophies, that he had de-feated in battle two millions of enemies, and re-duced fifteen hundred cities from the lake Maeo-tis to the Red Sea; k but the fortune of Rome flew before his eagles; the nations were oppress-ed by their own fears, and the invincible legionswhich he commanded had been formed by thehabits of conquest and the discipline of ages.In this view, the character of Belisarius maybedeservedly placed above the heroes of the an-cient republics. His imperfections flowed fromthe contagion of the times; his virtues were hisown, the free gift of nature or reflection; he rais-ed himself without a master or a rival; and soinadequate were thearms committed to his hand,that his sole advantage was derived from thepride and presumption of his adversaries. Un-der his command, the subjects of Justinian oftendeserved to be called Romans: but the unwarlikeappellation of Greeks was imposed as a termof reproach by the haughty Goths ; who affectedto blush, that they must dispute the kingdom ofItaly with a nation of tragedians, pantomimes,and pirates.* The climate of Asia has indeedbeen found less congenial than that of Europe tomilitary spirit: those populous countries wereenervated by luxury, despotism, and supersti-

tory. It was the torture of the royal Spartan to behold, with anguishand remorse, the virtue of his country.

k See this proud inscription in Pliny , (Hist. Natur. vii, 27). Fewmen have more exquisitely tasted of glory and disgrace: nor couldJuvenal (Satir. x) produce a more striking example of the vicissitudesof fortune, and the vanity of human wishes.

c router . . . on ra irftr spa ufora sc I-raXiav vxevra liJsv, OTI (UV xai

•avrac Xtrmiurt;. This last epithet of Procopius is too nobly translatedby pirates ; naval thieves is the proper word: strippers of garmentseither for injury or insult (Demosthenes contra Con on. in ReiskeOrator. Grate, tom. ii p. 1264).