Justinian (48 page)

stocky . . . men with yellowish skins and flat Oriental faces

The Huns – who burst upon the scene in the late fourth century, forcing the Goths to take refuge in the Roman Empire (an event which set off a chain reaction resulting, a century later, in the Fall of the Western Empire) – were most likely of Mongol stock from Central Asia. Some scholars equate the Huns with the Hsiung-Nu who long terrorized China, and Gibbon, referring to Jordanes' famous description of Attila, affirms that it corresponds in all details to that of ‘a modern Calmuck'. The Kalmucks,
according to
The New Penguin English Dictionary
, are ‘a group of Mongolian peoples inhabiting a region stretching from W China to the Caspian Sea'.

Theoderic . . . had proved a model ruler

Given a Roman education in his youth as a hostage in Constantinople, Theoderic succeeded his father as king of the Ostrogoths, a Germanic tribe who had settled in the East Roman Empire. Emperor Zeno persuaded the Romanophile Theoderic to lead his people to Italy which he would take over as the emperor's vicegerent (in reality to rid the Empire of a potentially dangerous threat). There was just one problem – Italy was
already
under the rule of another German monarch, Odovacar, who had seized control in
AD
476 after sending the last Western emperor into exile. Nothing daunted however, Theoderic defeated Odovacar, to become for most of his long reign of thirty-three years (493–526) one of the best rulers Italy ever had, establishing a system of benevolent apartheid for Goths and Romans. Towards the end of his life he became justifiably suspicious that Italian senators were plotting with Justinian (éminence grise to his uncle, the emperor Justin) for Italy to be reintegrated into the Roman Empire. As a result, his final years were darkened by acts of savage retribution. (See John Moorhead's excellent
Theoderic in Italy
.)

Goths should man the army . . . Romans . . . the administration

Despite some scholars (e.g. Ensslin,
Theoderich
) insisting otherwise, the rule was not set in concrete. A few Romans, such as a certain Cyprianus and Count Colosseus served in the army, while Wilia the
Comes Patrimonii
, Triwila the
Praepositus Sacri Cubili
and the senator Arigern were Goths. All the above were, however, exceptional.

his markedly Teutonic features

Coins from Theodahad's short reign (534–536), especially a bronze forty-nummi piece depicting the king in profile wearing a
Spangenhelm
, show an archetypally Germanic physiognomy – an image that surely would have gladdened the heart of Hitler. However, as an exemplar of some Aryan über race, Theodahad would have proved a sad disappointment to
der Führer
– timidity, vacillation, greed, and self-delusion being the Gothic monarch's predominant character traits.

The ritual of bathing

I have based my description of a Roman bath-house on the reconstructed one at Wallsend, the remains of one at Chesters (both sites on Hadrian's Wall), the famous complex at Bath, and (because Turkish baths are the direct descendants of Roman ones, with which they are virtually identical) the Turkish baths at Portobello, Edinburgh – where the old Roman terminology:
caldarium
,
tepidarium
, etc. is alive and well today! In a typical Roman bathing suite, a steam room (
sudatorium
) was not obligatory, but would have been an optional extra. (‘There were many variations on the sequence . . . cold and hot, moist and dry . . .'. Philip Wilkinson,
What The Romans Did For Us
.)

In the steam room at Portobello, the temperature of the steam is in the region of 50°C. If heated to 100°C, I was assured it would cause the blood to boil, death occurring after around twenty minutes to half an hour. (‘The steam rising from boiling water in an open vessel is of the same temperature as the water – viz. 212°F; but notwithstanding this, it contains a great deal more
heat
'.
Chambers' Encyclopaedia
, 1888.)

Some sources say that Theodahad had Amalasuntha strangled, others that he had her murdered in her bath – which allowed me, I think, to despatch her in the way I have described.

Today, Bolsena (anciently Volsinii) is a favourite stopping-off point for tourists en route to Orvieto with its famous cathedral. The circular lake (a crater lake set in a basalt plateau ringed by mountains) is popular with swimmers, who can be joined by remarkably tame ducks, its waters being pleasantly cool thanks to an altitude of c. 1,000 feet. The area, noted for its association with the powerful Farnese family, is rich in Etruscan remains. On the triangular-shaped island of Martana, the remains of the
castellum
where Amalasuntha met her end, can still be seen. A tourist attraction with less grisly associations is the Capodimonte porcelain factory, situated near the lake.

Dear ‘Cato'. ‘Cato', ‘Regulus' et al.

in the spirit of
Libertas
, these noms de guerre are borrowed from celebrated Romans noted for their staunch championing of Republican values. (Shades of ‘Jacques One, Two, and Three' in Dickens'
A Tale of Two Cities
.)

events as they now stand

In the text, a detailed account of the dreary catalogue of marches, sorties, sieges, attacks and counter-attacks (including the mutinies in Africa and
Sicily), which make up the initial phases of the Gothic War, would, I suspect, have tested the patience of most readers. To avoid this, I resorted to that well-worn (but handy) device of summarizing the key points by means of an interchange of letters.

the Tomb of Cecilia Metella

This huge brick-built drum from the Augustan period, situated outside Rome on a well-preserved section of the Appian Way (built by the censor Appius Claudius from 312
BC
), was converted into a castle in the fourteenth century.

I'm assured he'll be released ere long

Some hope! – his imprisonment lasted altogether four years. After his release, Peter continued a long and distinguished career, becoming Master of Offices, and carrying out important diplomatic missions into the 560s.

the two women . . . concocted a plot

When it comes to ruthless scheming and the ability to manipulate members of the male sex, especially husbands, Antonina and Theodora make the likes of Lucretia Borgia and Cleopatra look like amateurs. (Their ‘framing' of John of Cappadocia to bring about his downfall is a classic revenge plot worthy of the Mafia.) Although Theodora could be devious and unscrupulous in striving to achieve her goals (witness her likely connection with Amalasuntha's murder), she was driven by motives in themselves commendable – ferocious loyalty towards her husband and her friends, unselfish concern for the welfare of her protégés.

Antonina's character, on the other hand, is not redeemed, as far as can be ascertained, by any trace of altruism. Self-gratification seems to have been her chief motivation, and she showed no shame or scruple in her attempts to satisfy it. One example will suffice to illustrate this. With breathtaking brazenness, she seduced her and Belisarius' adopted son, Theodosius (a youth half her age), and carried on the affair right under her husband's nose while accompanying him on campaign in Africa, Sicily and Italy. Even when discovered
in flagrante delicto
, she managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the doting Belisarius. On one occasion, she was denounced to Belisarius, with clear evidence of guilt, by servants; on another by her own son Photius (from a liaison preceding her marriage to Belisarius). In each case, the whistleblowers were rewarded for their pains
by execution and imprisonment, respectively. When eventually (the presumably exhausted) Theodosius fled to a monastery to escape the demands of his insatiable lover, Antonina – with the assistance of her devoted friend, Theodora – tracked him down and had him re-installed in the bosom of the family. (Soon afterwards, according to Gibbon, ‘Theodosius expired in the first fatigues of an amorous interview'!)

Regarding the plot to have Silverius replaced by Vigilius, I have telescoped some of the events, and taken one or two liberties with the (probably true) account of his death by starvation on an island west of Naples. But the facts as I have presented them in the story are substantially those that history records. None of the four main protagonists emerge from the affair with any credit. The worst that can be said of Justinian and Belisarius however, is that they were weak – meekly going along with their wives' demands, against the dictates of their consciences.

The stories behind the Silverius/Vigilius plot, Antonina's affair with Theodosius, and the fall of John of Cappadocia are recounted in graphic and fascinating detail by Antony Bridge in his
Theodora
. Ironically, after being shoehorned into the Vatican, Vigilius proved a sad let-down to Theodora. Unwilling to offend the staunchly Orthodox clergy and people of Italy (and thus weaken his position as Pope), he procrastinated endlessly about implementing her wishes. The impasse was eventually overtaken by events of a catastrophic nature – as will be seen in later chapters.

a dark, triangular fin slicing through the water

While sharks that are dangerous to man are mostly encountered in tropical waters, they are, or were until recently, not uncommon in the Mediterranean – including the fearsome Great White Shark (which actually prefers temperate seas to warm ones). This species tends to cruise in shallow water near the coast, which of course would have put Silverius in danger as he approached the shore. Shark attacks in the Mediterranean on humans have been recorded from Ancient Greek times onwards.

dropping anchor beside Trajan's Mole

This enormous structure – 2,000 feet in length – can still be seen, as can a triumphal arch erected for the same emperor.

he's still in Ariminum

In fact, John refused to evacuate Rimini when ordered to do so by Belisarius. This flagrant act of disobedience received the backing of Narses, who
proceeded to tell Belisarius to relieve the town – thus adding insult to injury!

when the old man became a god

Prior to Constantine under whom Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, emperors, on dying, were deemed to become gods, acquiring thereby the title ‘
Divus
'. This was a piece of state propaganda that probably few people, especially among the upper classes, took very seriously – witness the remark of one expiring emperor: ‘I believe I am turning into a god!' Shades of the god-emperors of Japan, a status surviving into modern times.

the spat developing between their two commanders

The clash between the two generals (arising from the extraordinary rider to his commission which enabled Narses to outrank Belisarius whenever he felt it appropriate to do so) created a poisonous atmosphere of acrimony and dissent, which at times virtually paralyzed the progress of the war, and was directly responsible for the failure to relieve Milan.

B.'s capture of Ravenna in a bloodless coup

Displaying a failure of nerve that was not untypical, Justinian ordered Belisarius to abandon the siege of Ravenna (which the emperor had been led to believe was virtually impregnable) and make the best terms he could with the Goths – in case troops had to be diverted to the east in the event of Persian aggression. Italy would then be divided between the Romans, who would retain the land south of the Po, and the Goths, who would keep the rest – mainly consisting of their heartland, the Plain of Lombardy. Belisarius however, was made of sterner stuff than his emperor. Ignoring the order, he pretended to agree with a secret proposal of the Goths that he become Western emperor in return for a power-sharing deal with them. He was then allowed to enter Ravenna with his army, whereupon the Goths surrendered – only to discover that they had been tricked. Belisarius, who had no intention of honouring the deal, informed the Gothic leaders that he was occupying Ravenna in Justinian's name and that the Ostrogothic kingdom was no more. (Gibbon suggests that Ravenna was captured late in 539, rather than 540 – the year most sources give.)

half a million put to the sword and the city razed

The population of Milan – then as now Italy's second city – has been estimated to number c. 500,000 at the time. Displaying his usual common sense, Gibbon (in contrast to most historians) is highly sceptical about
the notion of total genocide and destruction being visited on a conurbation of this magnitude. He suggests that dividing the
reported
number slain (300,000 males alone) by ten, and assuming that the city's walls rather than its buildings were levelled, would give a more credible picture. Though inclined to agree with Gibbon, for dramatic reasons I have, in the story, stuck with the generally accepted version of the fate of Milan.

the Year of the Consul Basilius

After a lapse of several years, a consul, Basilius, was elected for the year 540. His diptych shows him in his consular robes, beside him – hand on his shoulder – an allegorical figure of Rome. Basilius wears a most apprehensive expression – caused by worry about the colossal expense of throwing his consular Games, or concern regarding the imminent demise of the office he represents? He was in fact to be the very last consul. (
The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian
suggests a date of 541 for Basilius. As, however, Gibbon gives 539 as the final consular year, I decided to split the difference and settle for 540.)

as once You did to Constantine

Justinian is referring to the famous incident – one of the most important single events in the history of Christianity, when Constantine, about to do battle with his rival Maxentius for mastery of the Roman Empire, beheld in the sky a cross (cloud formation?) – the emblem of the hitherto persecuted Christian sect. Interpreting the vision as a sign from God, he instructed his soldiers to paint the symbol on their shields. In the ensuing battle at the Milvian Bridge (still in use) outside Rome in 312, Constantine was victorious and the rest, as they say, is history . . .