See coin on opposite page. The
Bosphorus was supposed to have drawn its name from being the place
where Io, when transformed into a cow, forded the strait from
Europe into Asia Βοῦς-πορὸς.
“Born in
Germania, a district between Thrace and Illyricum,” says his
secretary, Procopius. We do not know where the district—a German
settlement, presumably—was situated.
The king's real name was Baduila, as
shown on his coins, and recorded by some historians, but
Imperialist writers always call him Totila, which seems to have
been a nickname.
It is comforting to know that the
popular legend which tells how the great general lived in poverty
and disgrace, begging the passer-by “dare
obolum Belisario,” and dying in the streets, is untrue. But
the suspicious emperor's conduct was quite unpardonable.
Mr. Lecky speaks of the “perpetual fratricide” of the Byzantine
emperors. It may be interesting to point out that from 340 to 1453
there was not a single emperor murdered by a brother, and only one
dethroned by a brother. Two were dethroned by sons, but not
murdered.
To the credit of Amrou and his
Saracens it must be recorded that the great Alexandrian Library was
not burnt by them in sheer fanatical wantonness as the legends
tell. It had perished long before.
Mr. Bury's excellent chapter on
“Themes,” in vol. ii. of his
“Later Roman Empire,” is most
convincing as to these very puzzling provinces and their
origin.
This name was given him because he was
born in the Purple Chamber, the room in the palace set aside for
the Empress. Emperors born in their father's reign had been scarce
of late. Constantine VI. and Michael the Drunkard were the only two
in the 110 years before Constantine VII.