t Belisarius spoke both Latin and Greek with equal
fluency. As far as race was concerned, it seems, however, tolerably
certain, that he was more closely allied in blood to Scanderberg and
Miaoulis than to Scipio or Epaminondas. As he was a man of rank and
family, he became an officer of the imperial guard at an early age.[10]
His tall and vigorous frame, smooth and handsome face, joined to a
smoother tongue, a calm and equable disposition, and a stout heart, made
him the very man to rise rapidly in the Roman service. Accordingly, as
early as the year 526, he appears in a high military command.[11] Like
Marlborough, to whom he bears some resemblance in personal character, he
strengthened his position at court by marrying the Lady Antonina, the
beautiful favourite of the Empress Theodora, though she was as fierce a
shrew as the Duchess Sarah, and wherewithal not so modest, if we give
credit to her husband's secretary.

It was the fashion at the Horse-guards of Constantinople during the
reign of Justinian, to encourage barbarian usages in military affairs.
Hussars from the country of the Gepids, cuirassiers from Armenia and the
ancient seats of the Goths, and light cavalry from the regions occupied
by the Huns, were the favourite bodies of troops. The young nobles of
the Roman empire adopted the uniforms of these regiments; wore long
hair, inlaid armour, and tight nether garments, and never condescended
to invest their persons in the modest equipments of the old Roman
dragoons, or of the modern legionaries whose ranks were officered by
mere provincials.

The reasons which compelled the imperial government to prefer foreign
mercenaries to native troops were based at first on principles of
internal policy, and at last on absolute necessity. Augustus feared the
Roman senators and knights; Constantine had not the means of paying for
good Roman soldiers; and Justinian could not have found a sufficient
number of suitable recruits among the citizens of his wide-extended
empire. The pivot of the administration of Imperial Rome, as of Imperial
Britain, was the treasury, not the Horse-guards. The taxes paid by the
citizens filled that treasury: but a soldier was exempt from taxation;
consequently, it became a measure of unavoidable necessity on the part
of the Roman government to prevent citizens escaping their financial
burdens by becoming soldiers. Had the citizens got possession of arms,
Rome could not have remained a despotism.