THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITYlooked different when the local Roman population was faced with the choice
between the local Arian rulers to whom they had become accustomed and the
harsh actuality of the Byzantine intervention.
The impact of warFor the eastern empire the drain in gold, men and other resources as a result
of Justinian’s wars was immense, especially when combined with the similar
demands made on imperial funds by the war against Persia and the expensive
treaties it entailed. There was a cost in public opinion too: the early eupho-
ria could hardly be maintained, and as things became diffi cult, whatever the
reason, the emperor lost popularity. Two works in particular refl ect the doubts
and criticisms:^67 Procopius’ Secret History, with its violent tirades against Justin-
ian and Theodora (who died in 548) and its catalogue of complaints and accu-
sations against the abuses which Procopius claims had taken place; and John
the Lydian’s De Magistratibus, where an attempt is made to save the emperor’s
reputation by blaming everything on his ministers, especially the praetorian
prefect, John the Cappadocian:
Our emperor, gentlest of men, knew nothing of these affairs because
everyone, though abused by the Cappadocian’s unrestricted exercise of
power, spoke in defence of that wicked man. ... Only the emperor’s wife
and helpmeet, who was most vigilant in her sympathy towards those suf-
fering injustice, found it intolerable to ignore the destruction of the state.
... Naturally, then, the emperor, being a good man though slow to requite
evil, was in the grip of a baffl ing situation.
(De Mag. III.69, from Maas, John Lydus, 95)Blame was also attached to Justinian’s ministers by Procopius, but his account
of the eventual fall of John the Cappadocian spares neither Justinian nor The-
odora, who emerges as both vindictive and manipulative.^68 The social struc-
tures of sixth-century cities were also conducive to disturbances.^69 Justinian
was indeed hesitant, especially in his handling of his ministers and generals,
but it is only with hindsight that we see so clearly that the changes already tak-
ing place in the Mediterranean world would combine with the sheer size of
the endeavour to prevent his military successes from lasting. Peace with Persia
in 561 was bought at a high price, and new invaders in the shape of Lombards,
Huns, Avars and Slavs soon reached Italy (568) and the Balkans. Justinian’s
new fl agship city of Justiniana Prima (usually identifi ed with Cˇaricˇin Grad,
south of Niš) was merely one out of many sites in the Balkans that soon sank
into obscurity (Chapter 7). Much of Italy was soon lost to the kingdom of the
Lombards, and Byzantine control reduced to the exarchate of Ravenna and
the duchy of Rome, which facilitated the development of a territorially based
papacy.^70 On the other hand, the coastal territories gained by the expedition
sent to Spain in 552 under the aged patrician Liberius, to help the pretender