[37] The authentic history of the last events of the life of Belisarius must be gathered from Theophanes, p. 201, John Malalas, p. 239, and Cedrenus, p. 387. Though, perhaps, Cedrenus may be objected to as living too long after these events. Theophanes died in 817 at the age of 60. His chronography ends with the year 813. John Malalas lived in the ninth century. The chronicle of Cedrenus ends with the year 1057. [38] _Pandects_, xlvii. tit. 18. 1, s. 23.--Quaestioni fidem non semper, nec tamen nunquam habendum, constitutionibus declaratur; etenim res est fragilis, et periculosa, et quae veritatem fallat.--Every one conversant with the social condition of the people of the East, (and probably it is the case under all despotic governments,) knows the extreme difficulty of obtaining judicial evidence that can be relied on, and the temptation judges incur to sanction torture. Hence the common assertion of public functionaries, that torture is absolutely necessary to secure the administration of justice; and of course people who require torture to persuade them to speak the truth, are unfit for self-government and constitutional liberty. Thus falsehood and oppression are perpetuated, and truth kept perpetually at bay. [39] _Joannis Antiocheni cognomenti Malalae Historia Chronica. Pars altera_, p. 84, ed. Venet. [40] _Theophanis Chronographia_, p. 201, ed. Paris. The accounts of Theophanes and Malalas must be compared together, as the comparison establishes the fact that they were both drawn from official sources. See also p. 202, 203, and note. [41] _Georgius Codinus de Originibus Constantinopolitanis_, p. 54. [42] _Georgii Cedreni Compendium Historiarum_, p. 387. [43] _Joannis Zonarae Annales_, tom. ii. p. 69. ed. Paris. [44] This may have resulted from the marriage of Joanna, the daughter of Belisarius, with Anastasius, the grandson of Theodora.--_Procopii Arcana_, c. 4, p. 34. [45] _Leonis Grammatici Chronographia_, p. 132. Bonnae: 1842. 8vo. [46] _Corpus Juris Civilis. Aliae aliquot Constitutiones_. Tom. ii. p. 511, ed. ster. 4to. _Privilegium pro Titionibus ex Cujac. Obss._ lib. x. c. 12. In a new edition of the _Corpus_ there is the following note:--Hoc privilegium editum est in Cujac. Obss., sed ex quo fonte desumptum sit, non indicatur, nisi quod Cujacius a P. Galesio Hispano se id decepisse dicat. Non sine ratione addidit Beck. qui in App. Corp. Juris Civ. hanc constitutionem recepit, an genuina sit, dubio non carere. [47] _Greece under the Romans_, p. 229.--If the writer of this article may presume to refer to his own authority. [48] _Imperium Orientale: studio A. Banduri_. Tom. i. _pars tertia. Antiquitatum Constantinopolitanarum_, p. 7. ed. Paris. [49] _Joannis Tzetzae Historiarum Variarum Chiliades_, p. 94, ed. Kiesslingii, Lipsiae, 1826, 8vo.