Early on Sunday morning the Emperor resolved on making a final effort to win back the allegiance of his subjects. By assuming an attitude of contrition, and proving his sincerity by a promise of universal amnesty, he might yet be able to save his throne. Holding the Gospels in his hand, he proceeded at dawn to the Hippodrome, and established himself in the regal seat. A proclamation was made, and the people, now confident in their own strength, came flocking in on all sides, attracted by the belief that something unusual was about to take place. Justinian advanced, and protending the sacred volume, adjured the assemblage: "By the might of this hallowed Word I condone everything that has happened. None of you shall be arrested; only be pacified. My sins have brought about this impass; no blame attaches to you. On me the guilt for not answering your appeal for mercy." Murmurs of approval were heard for a moment, but a general hooting quickly drowned them, and loud cries of "Ass, thou liest!" were repeated by a myriad of voices.[286] Finally the tumult resolved itself into persistent calls for Hypatius. The Emperor persevered no further, but retired in silence to the Palace.
The news spread rapidly that the disinherited princes were at liberty, and the revolutionaries immediately thronged to their residence. Hypatius was demanded, and in despite of the outcry of his wife, who foreboded disaster, was forced along to the Forum of Constantine. There the usual forms of a coronation were enacted; he was hoisted on a shield and crowned with a golden necklace. Exulting in this achievement, a wave of excitement swept over the crowd, and all clamoured that the new Emperor should be borne in triumph to the Circus and installed in the Cathisma, whilst a determined effort was being made for the capture of the Palace. A senator named Origen protested warmly against this move as being too rash and hasty. "Have patience for the present," said he, "let us fortify ourselves in another palace, of which there are several in the city. Whilst his resources are being frittered away, Justinian will be tired out and fly of his own accord; or at some opportune moment we shall be able to take him without risk." His prudent counsel was, however, cried down; Hypatius was hurried along reluctantly, and compelled to usurp the Imperial seat, whilst the people thronged the arena and acclaimed him with reckless enthusiasm.[287] But he contemplated his sudden rise with dismay, and felt profoundly insecure in his new position. Taking his opportunity, he privately despatched a Candidate to assure Justinian that he was involuntarily acting a part, and was only too anxious to repudiate the unwelcome honours thrust upon him. In a short time his messenger returned with a joyous air; as he strove to enter the Palace, the chief physician had accosted him: "Where are you going," said he, "there is no one within, the Emperor has taken his departure." "Master," exclaimed the Candidate, "God wishes you to reign; Justinian has fled and the Palace is empty." At this announcement Hypatius resigned himself with some confidence to his fortune.[288] The populace went on applauding him tumultuously, whilst they were loud in their vituperation of Justinian and Theodora.[289]
The report that Justinian had virtually abdicated by abandoning his post was false, but the author of it may have supposed that he was speaking an imminent truth, as that event seemed on the point of being realized. Hesitating to commit himself to the irrevocable step, the Emperor paused to throw a last glance at the situation. He initiated a debate, but his advisers were despondent, and their opinions half-hearted and divergent. Of all those concerned Theodora felt most deeply the ignominy of flight, and, unable to restrain her indignation at their halting resolution, burst into a passionate remonstrance. She deprecated the assurance of a woman in presuming to address a body of men, and pleaded the exigences of the moment as her excuse. "Even at this adverse crisis," said she, "I think the alternative of flight is out of the question. Though he may be permitted to live in safety as an exile, the master of an empire should not survive the loss of his dignity. As for myself, may I never live to see the day when this purple mantle shall fall from me, and people no longer salute me as Empress. I hold no sentiment so dear as that old saying, 'Royalty is a fine thing to be buried in.'"[290]
By this bold speech Theodora infused her own intrepid spirit into the Imperial party. No longer wavering in their counsels, they resolved to assume the offensive, and thought only of how to strike with most effect at the usurper and the rebels who supported him. The barbarian mercenaries congregated in the Palace still amounted to three or four thousand men, and several reliable officers were at hand to lead them. These troops were divided into two brigades and placed under the command of Belisarius and Mundus the Goth respectively.[291] At the same time Narses, the Chief Eunuch, opened negotiations with the Blue Faction, and by extensive bribery succeeded in detaching a large number of them from their associates. Some dissension in the Hippodrome resulted, voices were raised in favour of Justinian, and Hypatius was no longer the object of unalloyed enthusiasm.[292] And now Belisarius, supported by his colleague, determined to make a direct onslaught on the Cathisma, which was crowded with the improvised guards of the newly constituted emperor.[293] He essayed to pass by the Cochlea, but found the way blocked by the Excubitors, who had adopted a neutral attitude, and decided to be deaf to all orders as long as the fortunes of the rival parties hung in the balance. Seeing that any effort in that direction would be futile, he abandoned the scheme and, somewhat disheartened, returned to consult Justinian. A different plan of attack was then concerted with Mundus. Both generals made their way out with some difficulty over the ruins of the Chalke, and drew up their men in a compact body in the Augusteum. Marching around from thence they inspected all the inlets of the Circus, but saw that those on the north were held in force by the armed adherents of Hypatius. On arriving at the sphendone, however, Belisarius noticed that the way lay open into the arena, where the unarmed mob were collected in a dense throng. With a sudden impulse he called his men to arms and rushed on the crowd with vengeful determination. A remorseless massacre followed, and was continued as long as the barbarians found any living being within their reach. As for Mundus, the moment he perceived how Belisarius had become engaged, he swept rapidly round the southern circuit of the Hippodrome and made a similar irruption through the opposite entry, that called the Gate of the Dead. The doomed people, thus caught between the two brigades of infuriated troops, were cut off from all chance of escape; and, when at length the slaughter ceased, it was computed that at least thirty-five thousand citizens had been slain in this military execution.[294]
At the sight of the massacre consternation seized on the immediate partisans of Hypatius, and their confident union was completely dissolved. All felt that the cause of the upstart emperor was lost, and thought only of falling off from his perilous proximity in order to ensure their individual safety. A corresponding sense of assurance quickly spread among the inmates of the Palace as soon as they became aware that the rebels massed in the Hippodrome were undergoing extermination. Justus and Boraides, two young relatives of Justinian,[295] seeing their opportunity, placed themselves at the head of a small body of faithful guards and made an impetuous rush to the Cathisma. No one daring to withstand them, they ascended at once, seized on Hypatius and his brother, and hurried them before the Emperor. They were submitted to a brief examination, during which Hypatius maintained a dignified attitude, and asserted his consistent loyalty, asseverating that they had merely acted under popular compulsion. On the other hand, Pompeius, a man less experienced in affairs, broke down utterly, and abjectly bewailed his misfortune. Justinian remanded them in custody, and consulted with his ministers as to their fate.[296] He suggested clemency, but the Empress intervened with her usual vehemence, and insisted on the infliction of the death penalty.[297] She bore down all opposition, and next morning they were handed over to the soldiery, who executed them and threw their bodies into the sea. Their property was confiscated to the state, as well as that of the other men of rank who had associated themselves to the Nika, but after a short time a partial restitution was made to their families.[298] That Justinian, though often severe, and even reckless in punishments, was not vindictive, is shown by an incident which occurred in connection with Probus, who just escaped being involved in the insurrection. A few years previously he was accused of treasonable utterances against the Emperor, whereupon a court of inquiry was held, at which the charge was brought home to him. The finding of the judges was delivered in writing to Justinian, but he, tearing up the document in the presence of the delinquent, said, "Probus, I forgive you; pray to God that he may do likewise."[299] Some years after the riot, John, a son of the unfortunate Pompeius, was in favour at Court, and married into the Imperial family.[300]
By the fortuitous suppression of the Nika revolt the despotism of Justinian was established on a foundation unassailable by any popular commotion. A few thousands of barbarian mercenaries maintained in the heart of New Rome had sufficed to coerce the democracy in the capital, and to stifle the indignation of the whole Empire against a shameless and rapacious tyranny. Justinian's first care was to proclaim his victory over the usurpers and the rabble who supported them throughout the provinces,[301] and then to restore the bureaucracy to its former efficiency for fiscal exaction.[302] The ministers nominated under compulsion of the vulgar outcry were soon displaced, and Tribonian and John returned to their seats at the heads of their respective departments, where they reverted to their old methods of statecraft and extortion.[303] The infamous Cappadocian resumed his sway over the Emperor and the Empire, and during the next decade almost all public Acts were headed with the superscription, "To John, the Most Glorious Praefect of the Sacred Praetorium of the Orient, ex-Consul and Patrician."[304]
Theodora, on her side, to express her sense of assured supremacy, made a triumphal progress through the country to the hot-baths of Pythia,[305] in Bithynia. A crowd of patricians, illustrious officials, eunuchs, and officers of rank attended her, constituting a retinue amounting in all to over four thousand persons. At every halting place she made munificent donations to the public institutions of the vicinity; and churches, monasteries, and hospitals benefited largely by her ostentatious liberality.[306]
We should certainly do Justinian less than justice if we asserted that his regard for the welfare of his subjects was limited to a desire that no one should plunder them but himself. That statement, however, might not be an unfair definition of his objective attitude towards them. Three years after the rebellion he began the issue of a series of enactments intended to work a complete administrative reform throughout the Empire. He had in the meantime waged a successful war in the West, and for the moment the treasury was redundant with the rich spoils. His scheme of reform was doubtless influenced by this fact, and he legislated in the temporary belief that for the future the national burdens might be lightened.[307] His measures were directed to three principal requirements, viz., (1) to fortify the authority of his local vicegerents; (2) to elevate their ethical motives by abolishing venality; and (3) to invigorate the collection of the taxes.
1. In order to achieve the first of these objects he began to reverse, in great part, the provincial policy elaborated by Diocletian and Constantine.[308] In a number of provinces he dispensed with the dual control, and united both civil and military power in the hands of the Rector.[309] Enhanced rank naturally followed this increase of authority, and thus the former Clarissimus rose to be a Spectabilis, whilst, at the same time, he was granted the emoluments of both offices.[310] A loftier official title was also necessitated by these changes, and hence a simple Praeses or Judex became a Moderator, Praetor, or Count, and in three instances was elevated to the almost regal dignity of a Proconsul.[311] In some of these cases, however, the promotion of the Rector was due chiefly to the extension of his authority over a wider area. Some of the smaller provinces lying adjacent were annexed to each other, and received a single governor, especially those which had been previously known as "First" and "Second" of the same name.[312] In general the power of those Rectors who did not take over the military command was augmented by granting them an official guard sufficient to render them incontestably superior to such of the local magnates as had previously terrorized the district by the multitude of their armed retainers.[313] As the ordinary judge, the Rector's position was also improved by opening his tribunal to lawsuits in which greater pecuniary interests were at stake.[314] Some control was also conferred on them over agents of the fiscs, whom they were enjoined to restrain from collection of funds for public works, unless they presented an imperial commission for doing so.[315] Justinian further directed his vicegerents as to the official pageantry by which they were properly distinguished, and urged them not to be lax in the matter of public display. They were reminded of their right to wear a purple robe of a certain form and hue, to sit in a silver chariot and to be preceded in their progresses by an officer bearing the axe and fasces.[316] The Emperor himself was, indeed, unusually prone to ostentation, and when instituting these reforms he showed no little pride by enacting that all the newly created dignities should be denoted by the epithet "Justinian."[317]
Another sweeping change made by Justinian at this time increased the importance of the individual Rectors by limiting their subservience to intermediary authorities, and placing them in more direct dependence on the bureaucracy of the capital. He abolished the division of the Empire into dioceses, and the six groups of provinces which had hitherto obeyed an administrator in chief ceased to be regarded officially as being thus connected. The title of Vicar became obsolete, and the four vicegerents who had borne it were resolved into simple Rectors of their residential provinces.[318] The magnificent Count of the East was detached from his great array of provinces, and restricted to the governorship of Syria,[319] still an enviable charge, since he reckoned Antioch as his capital; and the Augustal Praefect resigned the control of all Egypt for that of Alexandria and the adjacent country.[320]