[36] [This is Gibbon’s[b] opinion, but Finlay[i] thinks it “rests on a very doubtful conjecture.”]
[37] [The words are given by Theophanes[f] but Bury[g] finds the lines so metrical that he thinks they must have been quoted from a lost work by George of Pisidia, whose Heraclian Persian Expedition and War with the Avars are important sources of information in this respect.]
[38] [According to others the name should be Phalbas or Dorkon.]
CHAPTER VI.
HERACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS
[610-717 A.D.]
“Everyone who reads the history of Heraclius,” says Bury,[b] “is met by the problems: how did the great hero of the last Persian War spend the first ten years of his reign; and why did he relapse into lethargy after his final triumph?”
Many explanations have been attempted to account for the actions of this man, who first built up an empire, and then allowed it to crumble under his feet. Bury’s explanation is the assumption that his will was naturally weak and his sensibilities strong, and that for a time he was raised above himself, as it were, by an inspired enthusiasm. When in later years this cloak of enthusiasm was withdrawn, the weakness of his true character was laid bare.[a]
[610-641 A.D.]