[23] Crassus was in the habit of saying, that no man was rich who could not maintain an army.
[24] Procopius de Bello Gotthico, iii. 1.
[25] Compare Procopius de Bello Gotthico, i. c. 25, with Anastasius de Vitis Pontificum Romanorum, p. 38, ed., Paris.
[26] De Bello Gotthico, ii. c. 8.
[27] Ibid. i. 22.
[28] There is a touch of the malicious spirit of the Secret History in the narration of Procopius, caused probably by some in avoiding the stab aimed at him by Konstantinos. The whole scene could hardly fail to produce a profound impression on the coolest spectator, even in that age, when men were more accustomed to stabbing than in our delicate daysof gunshot wounds. Ὁ δε (Βελισἁριοϛ) καταπλαγειϛ ὁπισω τε ἁπἑστη και Βἱσσα ἱγγὑϛ του ἑστκατι περιπλακειϛ διαφυγειν ισχιοϛ —(De Bello Gotthico, ii. 8.) Bessas was as great an extortioner as Konstantinos. (See Ibid. iv. 13.)
[29] Ildiger, doubtless a barbarian, from his name, was married to a daughter of Antonina by her first husband.—(De Bello Vandalico, ii. 8.) Valerian was also probably a barbarian, as he commanded a division of federate cavalry in the African war. He was general of the right wing of the Roman army under Narses at the battle of Taginas or Lentagio, which put an end to the life of the gallant Totila, and gave the mortal wound to the monarchy of the Ostrogoths.—(De Bello Gotthico, iv. 31.)
[30] Procopius would lead us to believe that a fine of 300 lbs. of gold (upwards of £140,000 in specie, and twice that sum in value) extorted from Belisarius in 543, was the produce of his profits during the Asiatic campaigns of 541 and 542. But it is difficult to know what confidence ought to be placed in the details of the Secret History.—C. 4, p. 32, l. 1, ed. Bonn. Clinton's Fasti Romani, p. 780.
[31] Anastasius, or the Memoirs of a Greek, by Thomas Hope, vol. ii. 393., first edition. The writer of these pages remembers reading Anastasius with singular pleasure, at the time of its publication. Now, after four-and-twenty years' intimate acquaintance with the East, and with the representatives of most of the classes of men depicted in the novel, he finds that its correctness of description and truth of character give it all the inexhaustible freshness of actual life.
[32] Historia Arcana, c. 4. Tom. iii. p. 34, ed. Bonn.