[31] [This is the story of Theophanes,[f] but John of Ephesus[d] tells an anecdote in direct contradiction, according to which Sophia knew of the wife’s existence, but refused to permit her to reside at the palace, being resolved that no other queen should reign while she lived. When, however, Tiberius was crowned he brought Anastasia to the palace and compelled her recognition.] [32] [Bury,[g] however, declares that “there is considerable reason to remove Tiberius from his pedestal,” as he “did not make a good emperor.”] [33] [Finlay[i] suggests that these men may have been deserters, but gives very meagre reasons for his charitable supposition.] [34] Baronius[j] gravely relates this discovery, or rather transmutation of barrels, not of honey but of gold. Yet the loan was arbitrary, since it was collected by soldiers, who were ordered to leave the patriarch not more than one hundred pounds of gold. [35] [A lunar eclipse two days earlier, fixes the date of the battle in January, 623.] [36] [This is Gibbon’s[b] opinion, but Finlay[i] thinks it “rests on a very doubtful conjecture.”] [37] [The words are given by Theophanes[f] but Bury[g] finds the lines so metrical that he thinks they must have been quoted from a lost work by George of Pisidia, whose _Heraclian Persian Expedition_ and _War with the Avars_ are important sources of information in this respect.] [38] [According to others the name should be Phalbas or Dorkon.] [Illustration] CHAPTER VI. HERACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS [610-717 A.D.] “Everyone who reads the history of Heraclius,” says Bury,[b] “is met by the problems: how did the great hero of the last Persian War spend the first ten years of his reign; and why did he relapse into lethargy after his final triumph?” Many explanations have been attempted to account for the actions of this man, who first built up an empire, and then allowed it to crumble under his feet. Bury’s explanation is the assumption that his will was naturally weak and his sensibilities strong, and that for a time he was raised above himself, as it were, by an inspired enthusiasm. When in later years this cloak of enthusiasm was withdrawn, the weakness of his true character was laid bare.[a] [Sidenote: [610-641 A.D.]]