ions,
will appear with me before the tribunal of Christ. I have been dazzled
by the splendor of the diadem: be thou wise and modest; remember what
you have been, remember what you are. You see around us your slaves, and
your children: with the authority, assume the tenderness, of a parent.
Love your people like yourself; cultivate the affections, maintain the
discipline, of the army; protect the fortunes of the rich, relieve
the necessities of the poor." The assembly, in silence and in tears,
applauded the counsels, and sympathized with the repentance, of their
prince the patriarch rehearsed the prayers of the church; Tiberius
received the diadem on his knees; and Justin, who in his abdication
appeared most worthy to reign, addressed the new monarch in the
following words: "If you consent, I live; if you command, I die: may the
God of heaven and earth infuse into your heart whatever I have neglected
or forgotten." The four last years of the emperor Justin were passed
in tranquil obscurity: his conscience was no longer tormented by the
remembrance of those duties which he was incapable of discharging;
and his choice was justified by the filial reverence and gratitude of
Tiberius.

Among the virtues of Tiberius, his beauty (he was one of the tallest and
most comely of the Romans) might introduce him to the favor of Sophia;
and the widow of Justin was persuaded, that she should preserve her
station and influence under the reign of a second and more youthful
husband. But, if the ambitious candidate had been tempted to flatter and
dissemble, it was no longer in his power to fulfil her expectations,
or his own promise. The factions of the hippodrome demanded, with some
impatience, the name of their new empress: both the people and Sophia
were astonished by the proclamation of Anastasia, the secret, though
lawful, wife of the emperor Tiberius. Whatever could alleviate the
disappointment of Sophia, Imperial honors, a stately palace, a numerous
household, was liberally bestowed by the piety of her adopted son; on
solemn occasions he attended and consulted the widow of his benefactor;
but her ambition disdained the vain semblance of royalty, and the
respectful appellation of mother served to exasperate, rather than
appease, the rage of an injured woman. While she accepted, and repaid
with a courtly smile, the fair expressions of regard and confidence,
a secret alliance was concluded between the dowager empress and her
ancient en