The condition of the empire at the death of Justinian. Justinian died on 14 November, 565 A. D. He left the empire completely exhausted by the conquest of the western provinces. The national antagonism between Greeks and Romans which was coming more and more clearly to light was not effectively bridged by a formal church union, and a mistaken religious policy had fostered the growth of national ambitions among the native populations of Syria and Egypt and led to further disunion with the empire. Under Justinian the annual consulship, for a thousand years identified with the life of the Roman state, was abolished (540 A. D.). In the government of the provinces Justinian took the initial steps towards abandoning the principle of the division of civil and military authority, which was so marked a feature of Diocletian’s organization, and thus prepared the way for the later form of the themes, or military districts, in which the military commanders were at the head of the civil government as well. It was in his reign also that the culture of the silkworm was introduced into the empire by Persian monks, who had lived in China, learned the jealously guarded secrets of this art, and brought some eggs of the silkworm out of the country concealed in hollow canes. The manufacture of silk goods had long been a flourishing industry in certain cities of the Greek East and was made an imperial monopoly by Justinian. The introduction of the silkworm rendered this trade to a large degree independent of the importation of raw silk from the Orient.
As Justinian was the last emperor whose native tongue was Latin, so he was the last who maintained that language as the language of government at Constantinople and upheld the traditions of the Roman imperial policy.
CHAPTER XXV
RELIGIOUS AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN THE LATE EMPIRE
I. The End of Paganism
The paganism of the late empire. In spite of the tremendous impulse given to the spread of Christianity by Constantine’s policy of toleration and by its adoption as the religion of the imperial house, the extinction of paganism was by no means rapid. While the chief pagan religions during the fourth century were the Oriental cults and the Orphic mysteries of Eleusis, which strongly resembled them in character, the worship of the Graeco-Roman Olympic divinities still attracted numerous followers. But, although paganism persisted in many and divers forms, these, by a process of religious syncretism, had come to find their place in a common theological system. This development had its basis in the common characteristics of the Oriental cults, each of which inculcated the belief in a supreme deity, and received its stimulus through the conscious opposition of all forms of paganism to Christianity, which they had come to recognize as their common, implacable foe. The chief characteristic of later paganism was its tendency to monotheism—a belief in one abstract divinity of whom the various gods were but so many separate manifestations. The development of a harmonious system of pagan theology was greatly aided by Neoplatonic philosophy, which may be regarded as the ultimate expression of ancient paganism. Neoplatonism was essentially a pantheism, in which all forms of life were regarded as emanations of the divine mind. But Neoplatonism was more than a philosophical system; it was a religion, and, like the Oriental cults, preached a doctrine of salvation for the souls of men. Such was the paganism by which the Christians of the late empire were confronted, and which, because of its many points of resemblance to their own beliefs and practices, they admitted to be a dangerous rival. At the same time, this similarity made the task of conversion less difficult.
Causes of the persistence of paganism. There were several reasons for the persistence of paganism. The Oriental and Orphic cults exercised a powerful hold over their votaries, and made an appeal very similar to that of Christianity. Stoicism, with its high ideal of conduct, remained a strong tradition among the upper classes of society; and Neoplatonism had a special attraction for men of intelligence and culture. Roman patriotism, too, fostered loyalty to the gods under whose aegis Rome had grown great, and until the close of the fourth century the Roman Senate was an indefatigable champion of the ancient faith. But more potent than all these causes was the fact that, apart from some works of a theological character, the whole literature of the day was pagan in origin and in spirit. This was the only material available for instruction in the schools, and formed the basis of the rhetorical studies which constituted the higher education of the time. Thus, throughout the whole period of their intellectual training, the minds of the young were subjected to pagan influences.