pt, Syria and Mesopotamia, especially among the
lower classes of society. For the rest of his reign Justinian strove
indefatigably to heal this breach, a policy in which he was largely
influenced by Theodora, who was personally sympathetic with the
Monophysites and saw the danger to the empire in the continued hostility
of the eastern peoples. An ecumenical council summoned by him at
Constantinople in 553 accepted a formula of belief upon which he hoped
both orthodox and monophysites could unite. The Pope Vergilius was forced
to submit to Justinian's will, but the clergy of Italy and Africa regarded
the new doctrine as heretical, and some openly condemned it. Nor was the
desired end attained, for the Monophysites still refused to be
conciliated. A final edict, issued in 565, went still further in its
recognition of the tenets of this sect, but the emperor's death
forestalled its enforcement and saved the orthodox clergy from the
alternative of submission or persecution.

A far harsher treatment was meted out to the Arians, who were treated as
hereticals and punished as criminals. A rebellion of the Samaritans,
occasioned by their persecution, was stamped out in blood. A determined
effort was made to eradicate the last remains of the old Hellenic faith
which still claimed many adherents of note. In 529 the endowment of
Plato's Academy was confiscated and the teaching of philosophy forbidden
at Athens. The persecution of heretics and unbelievers was accompanied by
a vigorous missionary movement which carried the Christian gospel to the
peoples of southern Russia, the Caucasus, Arabia, the Soudan and the oases
of the Sahara.

*The **condition** of the empire at the death of Justinian.* Justinian
died on 14 November, 565 A. D. He left the empire completely exhausted by
the conquest of the western provinces. The national antagonism between
Greeks and Romans which was coming more and more clearly to light was not
effectively bridged by a formal church union, and a mistaken religious
policy had fostered the growth of national ambitions among the native
populations of Syria and Egypt and led to further disunion with the
empire. Under Justinian the annual consulship, for a thousand years
identified with the life of the Roman state, was abolished (540 A. D.). In
the government of the provinces Justinian took the initial steps towards
abandoning the principle of the division of civil and military authority,
which was so marked a