s,
in their annual inroads, passed, and contemptuously repassed, before
these useless bulwarks; and the inhabitants of the frontier, instead
of reposing under the shadow of the general defence, were compelled
to guard, with incessant vigilance, their separate habitations. The
solitude of ancient cities, was replenished; the new foundations of
Justinian acquired, perhaps too hastily, the epithets of impregnable
and populous; and the auspicious place of his own nativity attracted
the grateful reverence of the vainest of princes. Under the name of
Justiniana prima, the obscure village of Tauresium became the seat of
an archbishop and a praefect, whose jurisdiction extended over seven
warlike provinces of Illyricum; [113] and the corrupt appellation of
Giustendil still indicates, about twenty miles to the south of Sophia,
the residence of a Turkish sanjak. [114] For the use of the emperor's
countryman, a cathedral, a place, and an aqueduct, were speedily
constructed; the public and private edifices were adapted to the
greatness of a royal city; and the strength of the walls resisted,
during the lifetime of Justinian, the unskilful assaults of the Huns and
Sclavonians. Their progress was sometimes retarded, and their hopes
of rapine were disappointed, by the innumerable castles which, in the
provinces of Dacia, Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, appeared
to cover the whole face of the country. Six hundred of these forts were
built or repaired by the emperor; but it seems reasonable to believe,
that the far greater part consisted only of a stone or brick tower, in
the midst of a square or circular area, which was surrounded by a wall
and ditch, and afforded in a moment of danger some protection to
the peasants and cattle of the neighboring villages. [115] Yet these
military works, which exhausted the public treasure, could not remove
the just apprehensions of Justinian and his European subjects. The
warm baths of Anchialus in Thrace were rendered as safe as they were
salutary; but the rich pastures of Thessalonica were foraged by the
Scythian cavalry; the delicious vale of Tempe, three hundred miles from
the Danube, was continually alarmed by the sound of war; [116] and no
unfortified spot, however distant or solitary, could securely enjoy the
blessings of peace. The Straits of Thermopylae, which seemed to protect,
but which had so often betrayed, the safety of Greece, were diligently
strengthened by the labors of Justin