New-York tribune., 1890-05-28
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE LATER ROMAN EMPIRE.


certainly must have been a laborous task by inc
conviction that earlier historians had erreu III
surring over a period of great signilcance' anu
in consequence of their contemptuous treatment
the so-called BYZANTINE Empire had acquired an
evil repute which it really did not deserve 10
the title byzantine Empire Mr.. Bury OBJECTS,
also as misleading and incorrect. For, ne oD-
serves the first step toward gra>ping the history
of those centuries through which the ancient
evolved into the modern world is the compic-
tension of the fact that the old Roman Empire
did not cease TO exist until the year l4j3 The
line of Roman Emperors continued in unbroken
succession from Octavius Augustus 10 Constantine
Paloeoogus Now this essential fact is obscurcd
as far as language is able 10 obscure it by apply
ing the name byzantine or the name Greek
to the Empire in its later stages. He finds fault
too with the use Of the expression Eastern and
Western Roman Empire, and Lastly he MAIN
tains that the period known heretofore most
famiary as that of the byzantine Empire was
really by no means so black as it has been painted
How dark the colors employed have been he
illustrates by citation from Mr.. Lecky, who
says "Of that Byzantine Empire the universal
verdict of history is that it constitutes. with
scarcely an exception, the most thoroughly base
and dcspicable form that civilization has yet as
sumcd.' That this is the universal verdict Of
that when to follow his narrative we do
not encounter the sharp and frequent reversals
OF historic judgments to be anticipated from his
position.
Nor, indeed. does it appear to be quite salts
factorily shown that the present work
gently demanded. Possibly Mr.. Bury may not
he the ideal historian. Certainly the general
impression made by this detailed chronicle of
battles murders pestilenccs and sudden deaths is
less interesting and engrossing than the alleged
Importance of the record would seem to require
The old opinion arrived at by Gibbon and adopted
with few exceptions by his successors-namey
that the period in question was one of uX and
decomposition, of which the most salient char
acteristcs were decay and deterioration alike in
social and moral systems. in material and spiritual
activities-does not appear TO be much shaken
by these volumes, in fact. What they do is 10
emphasize the extent and compeXity of the
disorganizng influences which conducted the En-
pire toward destruction and to weaken by mere
multiplicity of details, the effect Of the critical
events which mark the various stages of the long
descent. As we shall see presently moreover Mr..
Bury has ideas of his concerning certain his
torcal events. which are of a kind TO surprise
modern scientific historians, and which would
have perhaps provoked the sarionc smile of
Gibbon. Being bent upon rehabilitating the long
discredited Byzantine Empire-whch Mr.. Bury
forbds us to call by that name hcnccforth-he
naturally centres his eXertiOns upon the imperial
lady. whose character and career have of late
years been rediscussed for quite other than the
ordinary reasons of scholarshp-the Empress The
odora. But here again the reader is destined to
disappointment if he looks for a complete white
washing; for Mr. Bury is very judicial and
cautious that after carefully reading all he has 10
say one hardly knows what u believe
II ba
to Procopius, then, Of course, you must regard
Theodore as a second Messaina. But Mr. Bury
is not prepared to accept the Secret History,
and but for the fact that he is equally unprepared
to reject IL bodily, there would be some hope of
reaching definite conclusions. Gibbons view he
cannot away with, for Gibbon held that if the
Secret History not literally true it was
substantially accurate. Theodore has had her
modern champions, who solve the problem by re-
pudiatng the Secret History altogether But
this, says Mr.. Bury, with bis pcrplcxing CON
scientiousness is no more iustfable than the
other course. According 10 him, if We under
stand the drift of his somewhat obscure reasoning
sou must not accept the Secret History as Il
veracious chronicle; nor must YOU reject il ab-
solutely as q tissue of campaign lies: nor is il
possible TO treat il as half true and half false
In short, what TO do with it,, only Mr. Bury
KNOWS, ana he has. somehow. failed TO impart the
secret of his method. Still lie tries hard 10
build up an Ineligible picture of Theodore as
she really was, with curious results For when
his sketch is anayzed, We find before rs a woman
of strong religious feeling, who however. is not
too plous TO indulge in murder now and then; a
lady OF imperial dignity. who vet falls under The
conventional condemnation Of being no better
than she should be-; liberal and generous ruler
who, Notwithstanding, was accused by her con
temporaries of miserlincss and wanton cruelty:
altogether particularly paradoXcal and unthinIl-
lbe sort of parsonage. Most readers will probably
prefer to stick TO whatever preconceptions of Jus-
tinian's spouse they may have formed, and this
course is the more justifiabe inasmuch as the
actual truth of the matter is to-day as far be-
yond the possibility of asccrtainment as the
song the Syrens sung, or the name under which
Achilles passed when he lived among the women
AS to Justinian himself. Mr.. Iury observes
"Gibbons remark tiat Justinian was never
young aptlJ conveys the sort Of impression he
gives US. There is cold atmosphere about him
the atmosphere OF memorable Roman logic. afraid
OF no conscqu; nccs-whch is tingcd also with a
certain mysticism. HIS mode Of life was Sc
Verely abstemious and ascctc, his days and night,
Aborious. lie was a man of wide education
iearned IN philosophy, theology, jurisprudence
music ana architecture, and a friend Of his said
that the time despaired Of by Plato had come
when a philosopher should rripn and king
philosophical Mr.. Bury argues that the austere
character OF Justinian is itself strong evidence
OF the calumuious nature of the reports about
Theodore, but lac could hardly have reasoned thus
had he recalled TO mind the cases of the two
Faustinas. AntoninuS Pino and Marcus Aurelius
were certainly noJ less impeccable husbands than
Justinian, but no doubt can exist as to the
profigacy of their wives. On the whole. there
fore, this attempt to rehablitate Theodore cannot
be regarded very successful. Ii is. however.
In dealing with the great plague which swept
over the later Roman Empire from 542 TO $40
A. d.. that the author develops the most singular
ideas. lie advances the suggestion as at least
possibility, that this pcstiltncc was the effect
Of the great moral change tEen passing over the