ards or domestic troops, had
been augmented to the number of five thousand five hundred men, whose
ordinary station was in the peaceful cities of Asia. But the places
of the brave Armenians were insensibly supplied by lazy citizens, who
purchased an exemption from the duties of civil life, without being
exposed to the dangers of military service. Of such soldiers, few could
be tempted to sally from the gates; and none could be persuaded to
remain in the field, unless they wanted strength and speed to escape
from the Bulgarians. The report of the fugitives exaggerated the numbers
and fierceness of an enemy, who had polluted holy virgins, and abandoned
new-born infants to the dogs and vultures; a crowd of rustics, imploring
food and protection, increased the consternation of the city, and the
tents of Zabergan were pitched at the distance of twenty miles, [62] on
the banks of a small river, which encircles Melanthias, and afterwards
falls into the Propontis. [63] Justinian trembled: and those who had
only seen the emperor in his old age, were pleased to suppose, that he
had lost the alacrity and vigor of his youth. By his command the vessels
of gold and silver were removed from the churches in the neighborhood,
and even the suburbs, of Constantinople; the ramparts were lined with
trembling spectators; the golden gate was crowded with useless generals
and tribunes, and the senate shared the fatigues and the apprehensions
of the populace.

[Footnote 6011: Zabergan was king of the Cutrigours, a tribe of Huns,
who were neither Bulgarians nor Sclavonians. St. Martin, vol. ix. p.
408--420.--M]

[Footnote 61: In the decay of these military schools, the satire
of Procopius (Anecdot. c. 24, Aleman. p. 102, 103) is confirmed and
illustrated by Agathias, (l. v. p. 159,) who cannot be rejected as a
hostile witness.]

[Footnote 62: The distance from Constantinople to Melanthias, Villa
Caesariana, (Ammian. Marcellin. xxx. 11,) is variously fixed at 102 or
140 stadia, (Suidas, tom. ii. p. 522, 523. Agathias, l. v. p. 158,)
or xviii. or xix. miles, (Itineraria, p. 138, 230, 323, 332, and
Wesseling's Observations.) The first xii. miles, as far as Rhegium, were
paved by Justinian, who built a bridge over a morass or gullet between a
lake and the sea, (Procop. de Edif. l. iv. c. 8.)]

[Footnote 63: The Atyras, (Pompon. Mela, l. ii. c. 2, p. 169, edit.
Voss.) At the river's mouth, a town or castle of the same name was
fortified by Justi