ssor of the apostles might have inculcated with decent
firmness the guilt of blood, and the necessity of repentance; he is
content to celebrate the deliverance of the people and the fall of the
oppressor; to rejoice that the piety and benignity of Phocas have been
raised by Providence to the Imperial throne; to pray that his hands may
be strengthened against all his enemies; and to express a wish,
perhaps a prophecy, that, after a long and triumphant reign, he may
be transferred from a temporal to an everlasting kingdom. [48] I have
already traced the steps of a revolution so pleasing, in Gregory's
opinion, both to heaven and earth; and Phocas does not appear less
hateful in the exercise than in the acquisition of power The pencil of
an impartial historian has delineated the portrait of a monster:
[49] his diminutive and deformed person, the closeness of his shaggy
eyebrows, his red hair, his beardless chin, and his cheek disfigured and
discolored by a formidable scar. Ignorant of letters, of laws, and even
of arms, he indulged in the supreme rank a more ample privilege of lust
and drunkenness; and his brutal pleasures were either injurious to his
subjects or disgraceful to himself. Without assuming the office of
a prince, he renounced the profession of a soldier; and the reign of
Phocas afflicted Europe with ignominious peace, and Asia with desolating
war. His savage temper was inflamed by passion, hardened by fear, and
exasperated by resistance of reproach. The flight of Theodosius to the
Persian court had been intercepted by a rapid pursuit, or a deceitful
message: he was beheaded at Nice, and the last hours of the young
prince were soothed by the comforts of religion and the consciousness
of innocence. Yet his phantom disturbed the repose of the usurper: a
whisper was circulated through the East, that the son of Maurice was
still alive: the people expected their avenger, and the widow and
daughters of the late emperor would have adopted as their son and
brother the vilest of mankind. In the massacre of the Imperial family,
[50] the mercy, or rather the discretion, of Phocas had spared these
unhappy females, and they were decently confined to a private house. But
the spirit of the empress Constantina, still mindful of her father, her
husband, and her sons, aspired to freedom and revenge. At the dead of
night, she escaped to the sanctuary of St. Sophia; but her tears, and
the gold of her associate Germanus, were insuffi