of Kawad in 532,
Justinian, who wished to be free at any price to pursue his western
policy, was able to conclude peace with his successor, Chosroes I, upon
condition of paying an annual indemnity. But the successes of Justinian in
the West aroused the jealousy and ambitions of Chosroes in 539. The
Persians overran Syria and captured Antioch, carrying off its population
into captivity (540). However, they failed to take Edessa (544). In
Mesopotamia an armistice was concluded in 545, although war continued
between the Arab dependents of both states, and in the district of Lazica
(ancient Colchis), a Roman protectorate which transferred its allegiance
to Persia. Finally, a fifty years' peace was concluded in 562 A. D. The
Roman suzerainty over Lazica was acknowledged by the Persians, but the
Romans obligated themselves to pay the Persians a heavy annual subsidy, in
return for which the Persians undertook the defence of the Caucasus. In
this way the Persians became technically Roman _foederati_; however, as in
the case of the Visigoths in the fourth century, this was equivalent to a
confession that the Romans were unable to subdue their enemy, who looked
upon the subsidy as tribute.

[Illustration: The Roman Empire in 565 A. D.]

*The empress Theodora.* In 523 Justinian married Theodora, a former
professional pantomime actress from the purlieus of the Hippodrome, after
he had induced his uncle to cancel the law which forbade the marriage of
senators and actresses. And when Justinian became emperor in 527, Theodora
was crowned with him as Augusta. From that time until her death in 553 she
was in a very real sense joint ruler with her husband. Whatever the
character of her previous career, her private life as empress was beyond
reproach. She was fond of power, jealous of the influence of others with
the emperor, and unforgiving towards those who thwarted her purposes; both
Belisarius and John of Cappadocia, the powerful praetorian prefect, were
driven from the emperor's service by her enmity. On the other hand, she
was a woman of dauntless courage, and possessed of remarkable foresight in
political affairs.

*The **"**Nika**"** riot, 532 A. D.* The courage of the empress was
conspicuously displayed on the occasion of the great riot of the factions
of the Hippodrome--the Greens and the Blues--in 532 A. D. These factions had
been organized in Constantinople in imitation of the circus factions of
Rome, but had acquired a d