collar; four robust youths exalted him on a shield; he stood
firm and erect to receive the adoration of his subjects; and their
choice was sanctified by the benediction of the patriarch, who imposed
the diadem on the head of an orthodox prince. The hippodrome was already
filled with innumerable multitudes; and no sooner did the emperor appear
on his throne, than the voices of the blue and the green factions were
confounded in the same loyal acclamations. In the speeches which Justin
addressed to the senate and people, he promised to correct the abuses
which had disgraced the age of his predecessor, displayed the maxims of
a just and beneficent government, and declared that, on the approaching
calends of January, he would revive in his own person the name and
liberty of a Roman consul. The immediate discharge of his uncle's
debts exhibited a solid pledge of his faith and generosity: a train
of porters, laden with bags of gold, advanced into the midst of the
hippodrome, and the hopeless creditors of Justinian accepted this
equitable payment as a voluntary gift. Before the end of three years,
his example was imitated and surpassed by the empress Sophia, who
delivered many indigent citizens from the weight of debt and usury: an
act of benevolence the best entitled to gratitude, since it relieves the
most intolerable distress; but in which the bounty of a prince is the
most liable to be abused by the claims of prodigality and fraud.

On the seventh day of his reign, Justin gave audience to the ambassadors
of the Avars, and the scene was decorated to impress the Barbarians with
astonishment, veneration, and terror. From the palace gate, the spacious
courts and long porticos were lined with the lofty crests and gilt
bucklers of the guards, who presented their spears and axes with more
confidence than they would have shown in a field of battle. The officers
who exercised the power, or attended the person, of the prince, were
attired in their richest habits, and arranged according to the military
and civil order of the hierarchy. When the veil of the sanctuary was
withdrawn, the ambassadors beheld the emperor of the East on his throne,
beneath a canopy, or dome, which was supported by four columns, and
crowned with a winged figure of Victory. In the first emotions of
surprise, they submitted to the servile adoration of the Byzantine
court; but as soon as they rose from the ground, Targetius, the chief
of the embassy, expressed th