ulgated at the request of the
pope. Justinian introduced his own jurisprudence into the schools
and tribunals of the West; he ratified the acts of Theodoric and his
immediate successors, but every deed was rescinded and abolished which
force had extorted, or fear had subscribed, under the usurpation of
Totila. A moderate theory was framed to reconcile the rights of property
with the safety of prescription, the claims of the state with the
poverty of the people, and the pardon of offences with the interest
of virtue and order of society. Under the exarchs of Ravenna, Rome was
degraded to the second rank. Yet the senators were gratified by the
permission of visiting their estates in Italy, and of approaching,
without obstacle, the throne of Constantinople: the regulation of
weights and measures was delegated to the pope and senate; and the
salaries of lawyers and physicians, of orators and grammarians, were
destined to preserve, or rekindle, the light of science in the ancient
capital. Justinian might dictate benevolent edicts, [57] and Narses
might second his wishes by the restoration of cities, and more
especially of churches. But the power of kings is most effectual to
destroy; and the twenty years of the Gothic war had consummated the
distress and depopulation of Italy. As early as the fourth campaign,
under the discipline of Belisarius himself, fifty thousand laborers
died of hunger [58] in the narrow region of Picenum; [59] and a strict
interpretation of the evidence of Procopius would swell the loss of
Italy above the total sum of her present inhabitants. [60]

[Footnote 54: (Agathias, l. ii. p. 48.) In the first scene of Richard
III. our English poet has beautifully enlarged on this idea, for which,
however, he was not indebted to the Byzantine historian.]

[Footnote 55: Maffei has proved, (Verona Illustrata. P. i. l. x. p.
257, 289,) against the common opinion, that the dukes of Italy were
instituted before the conquest of the Lombards, by Narses himself.
In the Pragmatic Sanction, (No. 23,) Justinian restrains the judices
militares.]

[Footnote 56: See Paulus Diaconus, liii. c. 2, p. 776. Menander in
(Excerp Legat. p. 133) mentions some risings in Italy by the Franks, and
Theophanes (p. 201) hints at some Gothic rebellions.]

[Footnote 57: The Pragmatic Sanction of Justinian, which restores and
regulates the civil state of Italy, consists of xxvii. articles: it is
dated August 15, A.D. 554; is addressed to N