tor of the public
calamities. But the languid mists of the morning and evening are
separated by the brightness of the meridian sun; the Arcadius of the
palace arose the Caesar of the camp; and the honor of Rome and Heraclius
was gloriously retrieved by the exploits and trophies of six adventurous
campaigns. It was the duty of the Byzantine historians to have revealed
the causes of his slumber and vigilance. At this distance we can
only conjecture, that he was endowed with more personal courage than
political resolution; that he was detained by the charms, and perhaps
the arts, of his niece Martina, with whom, after the death of Eudocia,
he contracted an incestuous marriage; [73] and that he yielded to the
base advice of the counsellors, who urged, as a fundamental law, that
the life of the emperor should never be exposed in the field. [74]
Perhaps he was awakened by the last insolent demand of the Persian
conqueror; but at the moment when Heraclius assumed the spirit of a
hero, the only hopes of the Romans were drawn from the vicissitudes of
fortune, which might threaten the proud prosperity of Chosroes, and must
be favorable to those who had attained the lowest period of depression.
[75] To provide for the expenses of war, was the first care of the
emperor; and for the purpose of collecting the tribute, he was allowed
to solicit the benevolence of the eastern provinces. But the revenue no
longer flowed in the usual channels; the credit of an arbitrary prince
is annihilated by his power; and the courage of Heraclius was first
displayed in daring to borrow the consecrated wealth of churches, under
the solemn vow of restoring, with usury, whatever he had been compelled
to employ in the service of religion and the empire. The clergy
themselves appear to have sympathized with the public distress; and the
discreet patriarch of Alexandria, without admitting the precedent
of sacrilege, assisted his sovereign by the miraculous or seasonable
revelation of a secret treasure. [76] Of the soldiers who had conspired
with Phocas, only two were found to have survived the stroke of time and
of the Barbarians; [77] the loss, even of these seditious veterans, was
imperfectly supplied by the new levies of Heraclius, and the gold of the
sanctuary united, in the same camp, the names, and arms, and languages
of the East and West. He would have been content with the neutrality of
the Avars; and his friendly entreaty, that the chagan would act,