Opening the text

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

History

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

World history

After the abdication of Maurice, the two factions disputed the choice
of an emperor; but the favourite of the blues was rejected by the
jealousy of their antagonists, and Germanus himself was hurried along
by the crowds, who rushed to the palace of Hebdomon, seven miles from
the city, to adore the majesty of Phocas the centurion. A modest wish
of resigning the purple to the rank and merit of Germanus was opposed
by his resolution, more obstinate and equally sincere; the senate and
clergy obeyed his summons; and as soon as the patriarch was assured of
his orthodox belief, he consecrated the successful usurper in the church
of St. John the Baptist. On the third day, amidst the acclamations of
a thoughtless people, Phocas made his public entry in a chariot drawn
by four white horses; the revolt of the troops was rewarded by a lavish
donative, and the new sovereign, after visiting the palace, beheld from
his throne the games of the Hippodrome. In a dispute of precedency
between the two factions, his partial judgment inclined in favour of
the greens. “Remember that Maurice is still alive,” resounded from
the opposite side; and the indiscreet clamour of the blues admonished
and stimulated the cruelty of the tyrant. The ministers of death were
despatched to Chalcedon; they dragged the emperor from his sanctuary; and
the five sons of Maurice were successively murdered before the eyes of
their agonising parent. At each stroke, which he felt in his heart, he
found strength to rehearse a pious ejaculation: “Thou art just, O Lord!
and thy judgments are righteous.” And such, in the last moments, was his
rigid attachment to truth and justice, that he revealed to the soldiers
the pious falsehood of a nurse who presented her own child in the place
of a royal infant.

The tragic scene was finally closed by the execution of the emperor
himself, in the twentieth year of his reign and the sixty-third of his
age (602). The bodies of the father and his five sons were cast into the
sea, their heads were exposed at Constantinople to the insults or pity
of the multitude; and it was not till some signs of putrefaction had
appeared that Phocas connived at the private burial of these venerable
remains. In that grave the faults and errors of Maurice were kindly
interred. His fate alone was remembered; and at the end of twenty years,
in the recital of the history of Theophylact, the mournful tale was
interrupted by the tears of the audience.


PHOCAS EMPEROR (602-610)

[Sidenote: [602-610 A.D.]]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

World history

After the abdication of Maurice, the two factions disputed the choice
of an emperor; but the favourite of the blues was rejected by the
jealousy of their antagonists, and Germanus himself was hurried along
by the crowds, who rushed to the palace of Hebdomon, seven miles from
the city, to adore the majesty of Phocas the centurion. A modest wish
of resigning the purple to the rank and merit of Germanus was opposed
by his resolution, more obstinate and equally sincere; the senate and
clergy obeyed his summons; and as soon as the patriarch was assured of
his orthodox belief, he consecrated the successful usurper in the church
of St. John the Baptist. On the third day, amidst the acclamations of
a thoughtless people, Phocas made his public entry in a chariot drawn
by four white horses; the revolt of the troops was rewarded by a lavish
donative, and the new sovereign, after visiting the palace, beheld from
his throne the games of the Hippodrome. In a dispute of precedency
between the two factions, his partial judgment inclined in favour of
the greens. “Remember that Maurice is still alive,” resounded from
the opposite side; and the indiscreet clamour of the blues admonished
and stimulated the cruelty of the tyrant. The ministers of death were
despatched to Chalcedon; they dragged the emperor from his sanctuary; and
the five sons of Maurice were successively murdered before the eyes of
their agonising parent. At each stroke, which he felt in his heart, he
found strength to rehearse a pious ejaculation: “Thou art just, O Lord!
and thy judgments are righteous.” And such, in the last moments, was his
rigid attachment to truth and justice, that he revealed to the soldiers
the pious falsehood of a nurse who presented her own child in the place
of a royal infant.

The tragic scene was finally closed by the execution of the emperor
himself, in the twentieth year of his reign and the sixty-third of his
age (602). The bodies of the father and his five sons were cast into the
sea, their heads were exposed at Constantinople to the insults or pity
of the multitude; and it was not till some signs of putrefaction had
appeared that Phocas connived at the private burial of these venerable
remains. In that grave the faults and errors of Maurice were kindly
interred. His fate alone was remembered; and at the end of twenty years,
in the recital of the history of Theophylact, the mournful tale was
interrupted by the tears of the audience.


PHOCAS EMPEROR (602-610)

[Sidenote: [602-610 A.D.]]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 07 : $b the history of the later Roman Empire

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