WEBVTT 00:01.733 --> 00:06.473 PAUL FREEDMAN: We are starting to use primary 00:06.467 --> 00:12.297 sources for our understanding of the historical periods 00:12.300 --> 00:13.200 under discussion. 00:13.200 --> 00:14.770 Primary sources? 00:14.767 --> 00:17.627 Writings by people who lived at the time. 00:17.633 --> 00:22.473 And as with all such sources, the great advantage is 00:22.467 --> 00:25.597 vividness, immediacy-- 00:25.600 --> 00:28.070 the people lived through it. 00:28.067 --> 00:33.627 And the problem is distance from us and strangeness. 00:33.633 --> 00:37.303 Procopius and Gregory of Tours, who we'll be starting 00:37.300 --> 00:43.000 out with next week, are very different writers. 00:43.000 --> 00:49.670 Procopius much more conscious of style, a layman was 00:49.667 --> 00:54.367 somebody operating within the classical tradition. 00:54.367 --> 01:01.427 Gregory of Tours, certainly a person for whom 01:01.433 --> 01:03.773 style is not paramount. 01:03.767 --> 01:09.467 Or at least, it's not the classical notions of rhetoric, 01:09.467 --> 01:15.727 smoothness, and vividness that Procopius has. 01:15.733 --> 01:17.503 He is a bishop. 01:17.500 --> 01:20.270 He's very concerned with supernatural 01:20.267 --> 01:22.497 events and the Church. 01:22.500 --> 01:24.630 Or let's say, supernatural events 01:24.633 --> 01:26.173 controlled by the Church. 01:26.167 --> 01:29.127 Procopius, as you've seen, is not very concerned with 01:29.133 --> 01:31.673 Christianity, and the supernatural events that 01:31.667 --> 01:35.497 concerned him, such as Justinian walking around the 01:35.500 --> 01:40.130 palace with no head, are not Christian supernatural. 01:40.133 --> 01:46.673 They're from some other older supernatural tradition. 01:46.667 --> 01:52.767 But both Gregory of Tours and Procopius require an effort to 01:52.767 --> 01:54.197 figure out. 01:54.200 --> 01:58.470 Why not just read something by a writer, a historian living 01:58.467 --> 02:01.797 now who may be easier to figure out? 02:01.800 --> 02:06.770 And who is writing with you and me in mind? 02:06.767 --> 02:10.367 Because of the vividness and because of the trickiness of 02:10.367 --> 02:13.697 trying to reconstruct not only what happened, which is hard 02:13.700 --> 02:17.900 enough, but also what the mood of people was, and what the 02:17.900 --> 02:19.670 reaction was. 02:19.667 --> 02:21.667 We're talking about Justinian today. 02:21.667 --> 02:34.067 So an emperor whose rule occupies most of the sixth 02:34.067 --> 02:40.097 century, 527 to 565. 02:40.100 --> 02:43.730 So we're concentrating on the sixth century as part of this 02:43.733 --> 02:49.333 overall survival and crisis of the Eastern Roman Empire. 02:49.333 --> 02:53.003 His reign, or more precisely, the earlier part of his reign 02:53.000 --> 02:59.430 until about 540, is the height, apogee, maximum power 02:59.433 --> 03:06.233 of this empire which succeeds in shall we say, reconquering 03:06.233 --> 03:07.573 or conquering. 03:07.567 --> 03:12.297 Taking back or adding the parts of the Western Roman 03:12.300 --> 03:15.400 Empire, many parts of the Western Roman Empire that had 03:15.400 --> 03:19.970 been lost effectively to the barbarian invasions of the 03:19.967 --> 03:20.767 fifth century. 03:20.767 --> 03:25.767 If you still can refer to your map, or if your memory of 03:25.767 --> 03:26.697 geography is-- 03:26.700 --> 03:28.830 OK. 03:28.833 --> 03:33.373 The major areas of conquest of Justinian beyond the borders 03:33.367 --> 03:39.267 of the old eastern empire are first North Africa-- this is 03:39.267 --> 03:47.397 the coast of modern Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and even 03:47.400 --> 03:56.470 Morocco, held by the Vandals and seized by Justinian; parts 03:56.467 --> 04:01.167 of Spain, coastal Spain, Mediterranean Spain, held by 04:01.167 --> 04:07.727 the Visigoths; and Italy, held by the Ostrogoths. 04:11.433 --> 04:15.333 This is the centerpiece of Justinian's reign. 04:15.333 --> 04:21.373 And for a time, it looked as if he had, in effect, 04:21.367 --> 04:25.567 recreated the empire of Constantine and Diocletian. 04:28.467 --> 04:36.667 But as we'll see, this is a triumph with a terrible price. 04:36.667 --> 04:40.097 The terrible price being that it weakened Byzantium. 04:40.100 --> 04:45.670 Now when we say of figures in the past, or even figures in 04:45.667 --> 04:49.397 the recent past, that their policies were a mistake 04:49.400 --> 04:56.130 because it turned out that the future enemy would be 04:56.133 --> 04:59.073 something other than what they were fighting, we can say that 04:59.067 --> 05:01.267 with the advantage of being able to see 05:01.267 --> 05:02.497 what was going happen. 05:02.500 --> 05:05.470 In other words, there are people who argue that the 05:05.467 --> 05:09.897 invasion of Iraq was a folly or that the expenditures on 05:09.900 --> 05:14.370 the aggressive foreign policy of the first years of the 05:14.367 --> 05:18.027 twenty-first century was foolish, because as it turns 05:18.033 --> 05:22.433 out, economic problems, domestic problems, the 05:22.433 --> 05:26.203 mortgage bubble, was really the problem that people should 05:26.200 --> 05:26.870 have been addressing. 05:26.867 --> 05:29.867 Or they should have been addressing the deficit. 05:29.867 --> 05:31.867 You can say that. 05:31.867 --> 05:33.697 In its own way, it's a fact. 05:33.700 --> 05:36.700 But it doesn't necessarily tell you what people at the 05:36.700 --> 05:39.700 time should have thought of. 05:39.700 --> 05:45.270 Thus, we know from last lecture that, first of all, 05:45.267 --> 05:48.567 Justinian should have concentrated on the Persians. 05:48.567 --> 05:51.527 The Persians on his eastern frontier who didn't interest 05:51.533 --> 05:55.903 him, who he just wanted to sort of pacify in order to go 05:55.900 --> 05:57.930 west and make his conquests. 05:57.933 --> 06:00.203 The Persians would turn out to be the biggest 06:00.200 --> 06:02.030 enemy of the Empire. 06:02.033 --> 06:07.433 And so, you know if you were plotting this out as a kind of 06:07.433 --> 06:13.673 international political strategy, you could say: 06:13.667 --> 06:15.997 "Forget about the Ostrogoths. 06:16.000 --> 06:17.670 Forget about the Vandals. 06:17.667 --> 06:19.327 Build up that frontier. 06:19.333 --> 06:23.433 Invade Persia, keep your army there." And indeed, with a 06:23.433 --> 06:28.303 little more hindsight, we can say, "Oh my gosh, in eighty 06:28.300 --> 06:31.430 years, the Muslims are going to take the eastern part of 06:31.433 --> 06:32.403 your empire." 06:32.400 --> 06:36.700 Well, obviously, there's no way he is going to be expected 06:36.700 --> 06:38.200 reasonably to know that. 06:38.200 --> 06:41.100 Except, if you're looking at a distance, from over 1,000 06:41.100 --> 06:45.130 years, 1,500 years. 06:45.133 --> 06:48.973 Then we can say, sure, the eastern frontier turns out to 06:48.967 --> 06:52.227 be the point of vulnerability. 06:52.233 --> 06:58.003 So a classic kind of historical problem, or early 06:58.000 --> 07:06.400 Middle Ages midterm question is: "Justinian, overreacher or 07:06.400 --> 07:14.970 reasonable guy?" Or "The conquest of the west: folly or 07:14.967 --> 07:18.327 grandeur?" And it's both. 07:18.333 --> 07:23.633 It is a classic example of over-extension, over-extension 07:23.633 --> 07:28.133 of empires, meaning that empires weaken themselves at 07:28.133 --> 07:32.373 some point fatally by simply getting either too big or 07:32.367 --> 07:34.467 spending too much money. 07:34.467 --> 07:35.297 And the two are linked. 07:35.300 --> 07:36.970 If you get too big, you have to spend more 07:36.967 --> 07:38.367 money to defend yourself. 07:38.367 --> 07:42.897 Not really having the resources to keep what you 07:42.900 --> 07:43.400 have. 07:43.400 --> 07:50.130 The British Empire, to take a reasonably clear and neutral 07:50.133 --> 07:55.903 example, at some point is simply too large for the 07:55.900 --> 08:00.500 resources of a weakened Great Britain. 08:00.500 --> 08:07.370 And our colleague Paul Kennedy has explored, quite memorably, 08:07.367 --> 08:12.927 empires that simply could not maintain their commitments. 08:12.933 --> 08:18.603 The Spanish Empire, the British Empire, and, as it 08:18.600 --> 08:20.630 turned out after Kennedy wrote his book, the 08:20.633 --> 08:23.003 Russian Soviet Empire. 08:23.000 --> 08:30.930 This is a pattern in history that repeats itself. 08:30.933 --> 08:35.303 The question, however, is, under the circumstances, and 08:35.300 --> 08:37.700 assuming the existence of that empire, what are reasonable 08:37.700 --> 08:42.700 policies to preserve it or to extend it? 08:42.700 --> 08:47.700 We know about Justinian's wars of conquest and of defense-- 08:47.700 --> 08:51.270 he did have some wars against the Persians-- 08:51.267 --> 08:54.727 his wars of conquest and defense largely, although not 08:54.733 --> 08:57.133 exclusively, through Procopius. 08:57.133 --> 09:01.573 He is our best source in two works. 09:01.567 --> 09:05.527 One, the Secret History, and the other, much more 09:05.533 --> 09:09.303 extensive, a series of books called The Wars. 09:09.300 --> 09:12.470 And they're divided in Persian wars, African 09:12.467 --> 09:15.997 wars, Italian wars. 09:16.000 --> 09:21.870 In The Wars, you can see that once the Italian war starts to 09:21.867 --> 09:26.997 go badly, Procopius's opinion of Justinian and of the great 09:27.000 --> 09:33.500 general Belisarius tend to change from a kind of 09:33.500 --> 09:42.430 admiration and go, kill, get'em spirit to uneasiness, 09:42.433 --> 09:46.503 to blaming, to a kind of finger pointing. 09:51.067 --> 09:53.667 So we're dependent on Procopius. 09:53.667 --> 09:57.727 And when you first read The Wars, it seems very, very 09:57.733 --> 09:59.603 different from the Secret History. 09:59.600 --> 10:03.600 It seems like it's by Thucydides or some other 10:03.600 --> 10:07.530 sensible, objective Greek writer. 10:07.533 --> 10:10.533 And he indeed is writing in that tradition. 10:10.533 --> 10:13.133 Those of you who've read Thucydides will remember he 10:13.133 --> 10:17.003 describes, often, folly and very terrible events, but 10:17.000 --> 10:19.770 soberly, factually. 10:19.767 --> 10:26.667 And in a fashion of Olympian sorrow at the folly of 10:26.667 --> 10:29.027 policymakers and generals. 10:29.033 --> 10:31.973 And to some extent, Procopius has that tone, which seems to 10:31.967 --> 10:35.827 contrast very much with the vehemence of the Secret 10:35.833 --> 10:40.003 History, leading some people to assume that he was crazy 10:40.000 --> 10:41.700 when he wrote the Secret History. 10:41.700 --> 10:44.470 Or off balance, let's say. 10:44.467 --> 10:52.597 Or that The Wars represented the real Procopius, and this 10:52.600 --> 10:57.900 represented his "evil twin." The term, evil twin, doesn't 10:57.900 --> 11:01.330 appear in Gibbon, but it could. 11:01.333 --> 11:02.933 It could. 11:02.933 --> 11:05.773 What makes it more complicated is a third work 11:05.767 --> 11:08.167 of his called Buildings. 11:08.167 --> 11:11.667 Buildings is, as the name implies, a book about 11:11.667 --> 11:17.767 Justinian's building campaign, which includes, but is no 11:17.767 --> 11:21.527 means limited to, the church of Hagia Sofia in modern 11:21.533 --> 11:27.003 Istanbul, which is, continues to be, to this day, an 11:27.000 --> 11:32.570 extraordinary building of such immensity and 11:32.567 --> 11:35.127 such space in interior. 11:35.133 --> 11:39.303 A dome that seems unsupported by anything and that seems to 11:39.300 --> 11:42.630 cover half the earth when you're inside it. 11:42.633 --> 11:44.273 Both splendid and an 11:44.267 --> 11:47.567 extraordinary engineering feat. 11:47.567 --> 11:50.797 And then Justinian built churches. 11:50.800 --> 11:55.600 He built churches that stand in Ravenna with unbelievably 11:55.600 --> 11:58.300 beautiful mosaics, Ravenna in Italy. 11:58.300 --> 12:01.870 And these are important because Ravenna was outside 12:01.867 --> 12:05.497 the zone of territory controlled by the iconoclasts. 12:05.500 --> 12:08.800 And, therefore while the iconoclasts tended to take 12:08.800 --> 12:13.600 down or whitewash representations of anything 12:13.600 --> 12:16.930 divine, their reach did not extend as far as Ravenna. 12:16.933 --> 12:23.303 So in a way, the best examples of Byzantine mosaic art of the 12:23.300 --> 12:24.130 earliest period-- 12:24.133 --> 12:30.533 Not in a way, but absolutely are outside of the eastern 12:30.533 --> 12:31.973 Mediterranean, and in Italy. 12:34.800 --> 12:38.430 Buildings though, is not just an account of Justinian's 12:38.433 --> 12:42.673 architectural essays, but a 12:42.667 --> 12:45.667 panegyric, a praise of Justinian. 12:45.667 --> 12:53.097 Almost as slavishly adulatory as the Secret History is a 12:53.100 --> 12:55.830 condemnation. 12:55.833 --> 12:59.733 And as I suggested last time, these actually go together in 12:59.733 --> 13:07.873 a society where a tremendous power is concentrated in one 13:07.867 --> 13:14.127 person, or one court, or one setting, the reactions of 13:14.133 --> 13:18.633 people tend to be adulation which is, to some extent, 13:18.633 --> 13:25.033 forced out of them, or at least invited by the ruler. 13:25.033 --> 13:28.833 So again, to take an obvious analogy: Stalin, for his 13:28.833 --> 13:32.673 seventieth birthday was pleased that the greatest 13:32.667 --> 13:35.827 museum of Moscow, all the permanent exhibit was set 13:35.833 --> 13:38.703 aside and warehoused, and the whole museum was given over to 13:38.700 --> 13:41.900 gifts to Stalin on his seventieth birthday from a 13:41.900 --> 13:43.700 grateful people. 13:43.700 --> 13:45.100 He didn't have to order it. 13:45.100 --> 13:48.800 Somebody came up with the idea and he said, "Oh, don't go to 13:48.800 --> 13:52.900 any trouble." They had the thing, this adulatory. 13:52.900 --> 13:54.670 This is what later would be called the "cult of 13:54.667 --> 13:57.527 personality." And it's just one of hundreds of examples. 13:57.533 --> 14:01.803 Naming cities after him, lauding him as the "Great 14:01.800 --> 14:08.070 Gardener", "the Friend of Children," "the successor of 14:08.067 --> 14:10.427 Lenin", and so forth. 14:10.433 --> 14:15.273 The other side of that is a kind of hatred and diatribe, 14:15.267 --> 14:17.467 more or less secret. 14:17.467 --> 14:19.467 There were lots of jokes about Stalin. 14:19.467 --> 14:24.797 You could and people were sent to Siberia or executed for 14:24.800 --> 14:27.130 telling these jokes. 14:27.133 --> 14:29.273 But they were very good jokes, under the circumstances. 14:32.867 --> 14:35.427 This is some of the explanation for how you can 14:35.433 --> 14:40.603 get, at the same time, adulation and demonization. 14:40.600 --> 14:42.670 The interesting thing, of course, is it's in the same 14:42.667 --> 14:44.397 guy, Procopius. 14:44.400 --> 14:47.530 And although people at one time thought, "Oh well, he 14:47.533 --> 14:51.733 wrote The Buildings earlier and then became 14:51.733 --> 14:55.033 disillusioned." He did become disillusioned. 14:55.033 --> 14:56.703 Everybody became disillusioned, because after 14:56.700 --> 14:58.600 540, things started to go wrong. 14:58.600 --> 15:01.930 There's a huge plague in 542 that kills off a third of the 15:01.933 --> 15:04.503 population, for starters. 15:04.500 --> 15:07.170 But it looks as if he's writing this stuff more or 15:07.167 --> 15:08.727 less at the same time. 15:08.733 --> 15:11.533 The Secret History is not finished. 15:11.533 --> 15:14.533 That's why it begins so oddly, not with Justinian, but with 15:14.533 --> 15:17.473 Belisarius and Belisarius' wife, being kicked around by 15:17.467 --> 15:20.427 his wife, and Theodora and you sort of don't know who these 15:20.433 --> 15:20.803 people are. 15:20.800 --> 15:23.370 And then suddenly we're at Justinian. 15:23.367 --> 15:28.267 Well, the order of this thing is not yet set. 15:28.267 --> 15:33.097 He probably did not finish it. 15:33.100 --> 15:36.900 He did, however, want it to be published after his death. 15:36.900 --> 15:41.770 It's called the Secret History or the Anecdota, sort of 15:41.767 --> 15:46.127 stories, by later writers. 15:46.133 --> 15:48.103 It survives in only one manuscript, 15:48.100 --> 15:50.400 as I think I remarked. 15:50.400 --> 15:54.530 Nevertheless, because it has a highly rhetorical style, it 15:54.533 --> 15:57.573 clearly was to be read by other people. 15:57.567 --> 15:59.927 It's not just a set of jottings for his own 15:59.933 --> 16:00.773 satisfaction. 16:00.767 --> 16:05.867 It is a work that he hoped would be widely published when 16:05.867 --> 16:07.127 he was safely dead. 16:09.967 --> 16:14.467 And Anecdota literally means, not "stories" as it would now, 16:14.467 --> 16:19.267 anecdotes, the false cognate, it means "not to be 16:19.267 --> 16:20.497 published". 16:23.433 --> 16:28.503 So in the Secret History, Justinian is a monster. 16:28.500 --> 16:34.070 Let's set that aside for a moment and talk about what 16:34.067 --> 16:36.197 Justinian actually did. 16:36.200 --> 16:44.030 Justinian was the power behind the throne of his uncle, 16:44.033 --> 16:47.973 Justin the First. So in a way, his rule 16:47.967 --> 16:56.397 goes back to the 510s. 16:56.400 --> 17:01.330 Justinian's character, as portrayed by Procopius in both 17:01.333 --> 17:06.703 The Wars and in the Secret History, is very 17:06.700 --> 17:11.630 smart, hard - working-- 17:11.633 --> 17:15.633 Procopius says he almost never slept-- 17:15.633 --> 17:21.833 devoted to details, capable of immersing himself in many 17:21.833 --> 17:26.173 different things: architecture, church 17:26.167 --> 17:33.397 ceremonies, theology, and law. 17:33.400 --> 17:37.800 He was of humble birth. 17:37.800 --> 17:42.300 His uncle, and his family were soldiers. 17:42.300 --> 17:49.330 They were from modern oh, Croatia, more or less, the 17:49.333 --> 17:52.373 Balkan peninsula, the former Yugoslavia-- 17:52.367 --> 17:57.427 Illyrians, as would have been the term used at the time. 17:57.433 --> 18:03.203 He grew up speaking some form of Latin, and he is, as I said 18:03.200 --> 18:07.230 last time, the last emperor whose native language was 18:07.233 --> 18:09.473 Latin as opposed to Greek. 18:13.300 --> 18:17.670 He dressed very simply, and he was approachable. 18:17.667 --> 18:21.897 He did not have that awe-inspiring splendor of 18:21.900 --> 18:25.100 Diocletian or Constantine, for example. 18:29.633 --> 18:36.533 He was seldom angry, but he was cold and seems to have had 18:36.533 --> 18:40.233 no trace of mercy or kindness. 18:40.233 --> 18:42.503 He reminds me of some professors of mine. 18:45.333 --> 18:47.603 He was intolerant; he was 18:47.600 --> 18:49.730 unforgiving; and he was merciless. 18:52.333 --> 18:57.003 He had a grandiose conception of the Empire. 18:57.000 --> 19:04.900 And he was willing to tax his subjects heavily and to 19:04.900 --> 19:10.130 endanger the security of the eastern frontier in order to 19:10.133 --> 19:13.903 expand his territory and his prestige. 19:13.900 --> 19:17.930 I think that is a fair judgment to make. 19:17.933 --> 19:21.073 He believed that his predecessors had, through 19:21.067 --> 19:26.827 neglect, lost what the ancient Romans had conquered. 19:26.833 --> 19:28.803 And he believed that you couldn't call it the Roman 19:28.800 --> 19:34.400 Empire if all it consisted of were possessions in the 19:34.400 --> 19:35.670 eastern Mediterranean. 19:37.667 --> 19:42.267 And, as we've said, he did indeed conquer, at great cost, 19:42.267 --> 19:47.497 North Africa, parts of Spain and Italy. 19:47.500 --> 19:49.200 He had a-- 19:49.200 --> 19:52.500 I think it's wrong to use the term totalitarian, but 19:52.500 --> 19:54.830 certainly a very strong 19:54.833 --> 19:58.973 conception of imperial rulership. 19:58.967 --> 20:02.627 He tried to impose doctrines on the Church in order to 20:02.633 --> 20:06.203 resolve the age - old Monophysite question. 20:10.033 --> 20:12.703 He was no more successful than Constantine or Theodosius by 20:12.700 --> 20:15.170 the way, but, for example, just to give you a sense of 20:15.167 --> 20:18.997 his methods, he kidnapped the Pope in Rome, tried to 20:19.000 --> 20:22.430 browbeat him, and exiled him to the Crimean 20:22.433 --> 20:25.903 Peninsula where he died. 20:25.900 --> 20:28.070 Theodora. 20:28.067 --> 20:32.127 One of the most interesting things about Justinian is that 20:32.133 --> 20:39.773 he gave so much power and respect to his consort, 20:39.767 --> 20:45.427 Theodora, who was of even more humble birth than he was. 20:45.433 --> 20:51.503 Now, I don't think we have to believe Procopius on the 20:51.500 --> 20:54.270 details of Theodora's youth. 20:54.267 --> 20:59.297 He certainly reserves his most hysterical 20:59.300 --> 21:01.830 diatribes for Theodora. 21:01.833 --> 21:05.103 I think it's fair to say that Procopius was not a great 21:05.100 --> 21:10.730 admirer of competent women. 21:10.733 --> 21:15.373 The historian Bury, J. B. Bury, one of the great 21:15.367 --> 21:19.397 historians of late Rome and Byzantium, who wrote about 21:19.400 --> 21:25.470 100, 120 years ago, describes her youth as stormy. 21:25.467 --> 21:29.667 An adjective that I like, because it could be anything. 21:29.667 --> 21:30.797 Her stormy youth. 21:30.800 --> 21:34.800 Probably her father was a bear keeper. 21:34.800 --> 21:37.830 Somebody who kept bears for the entertainment of people at 21:37.833 --> 21:38.803 the circus. 21:38.800 --> 21:41.370 An animal trainer. 21:41.367 --> 21:42.327 She was the mother of a legitimate 21:42.333 --> 21:42.773 [correction: illegitimate] 21:42.767 --> 21:45.027 child. 21:45.033 --> 21:48.673 She may have had a background of amateur or 21:48.667 --> 21:52.697 quasi-professional, semi-pro prostitution. 21:52.700 --> 21:55.370 Notice that Procopius condemns her, first for being a 21:55.367 --> 21:58.267 prostitute, and then for suppressing prostitution once 21:58.267 --> 22:00.927 she became Empress. 22:00.933 --> 22:02.503 There's a logic to that. 22:02.500 --> 22:05.430 Procopius is not opposed to prostitution. 22:05.433 --> 22:08.933 One has the sense that he's, if not a connoisseur, at least 22:08.933 --> 22:15.403 a now-and-then partaker. 22:15.400 --> 22:19.870 But for prostitutes to be anything other than this 22:19.867 --> 22:23.167 firmly subordinated class, that is, for prostitutes to 22:23.167 --> 22:29.267 have some sort of voice or opinion, or for people to 22:29.267 --> 22:34.767 endeavor to help them, or respect them, is, in his mind, 22:34.767 --> 22:36.497 ridiculous and scandalous. 22:40.133 --> 22:44.903 Procopius is a conservative. 22:44.900 --> 22:51.700 He doesn't like the weakening of the senatorial classes. 22:51.700 --> 22:55.800 He represents the land - owning interests. 22:55.800 --> 22:58.430 He doesn't like too much imperial power. 22:58.433 --> 23:02.873 He's quite happy to respect the emperor, but is angry when 23:02.867 --> 23:05.327 the emperor seems to be taxing rich people. 23:09.433 --> 23:12.833 He doesn't like upstarts. 23:12.833 --> 23:14.533 Upstarts like Justinian. 23:14.533 --> 23:15.703 Who is he? 23:15.700 --> 23:17.830 A soldier's child. 23:17.833 --> 23:19.233 Upstarts like Theodora. 23:19.233 --> 23:24.733 Upstarts like Antonia, the wife of Belisarius. 23:28.867 --> 23:32.197 Justinian and Theodora ruled as a team. 23:32.200 --> 23:34.770 They had very different personalities. 23:34.767 --> 23:37.697 A very interesting team. 23:37.700 --> 23:45.230 Theodora loved sleep, luxury, was sympathetic to the 23:45.233 --> 23:46.733 Monophysites. 23:46.733 --> 23:51.303 Justinian was completely the opposite: an insomniac, 23:51.300 --> 23:54.130 somebody who dressed in extremely ordinary clothing 23:54.133 --> 23:56.103 and firmly anti-Monophysite. 23:59.300 --> 24:01.500 They, in fact, supported different 24:01.500 --> 24:04.100 factions in the circus. 24:04.100 --> 24:10.930 Here is a Giants-Jets marriage. 24:10.933 --> 24:13.403 The circus. 24:13.400 --> 24:18.730 The circus was a arena attached to the palace, where 24:18.733 --> 24:20.533 the emperor would make his 24:20.533 --> 24:23.303 appearances at sporting events. 24:23.300 --> 24:26.070 Although we've said Justinian was approachable, by that we 24:26.067 --> 24:31.397 mean that people in the government or in high 24:31.400 --> 24:35.730 positions could see him without too much ceremony. 24:35.733 --> 24:39.573 That doesn't mean he's approachable just to anybody. 24:39.567 --> 24:44.467 In an absolutist state, there are certain kinds of events at 24:44.467 --> 24:47.797 which the ruler has to show himself, or traditionally 24:47.800 --> 24:49.330 shows himself. 24:49.333 --> 24:53.503 So in the Soviet era, the May Day parades. 24:53.500 --> 24:57.100 There's a reviewing stand in Moscow at the tomb of Lenin. 24:57.100 --> 25:01.270 And foreign correspondents and intelligence people would try 25:01.267 --> 25:04.967 to see who was in and out of power by who appeared with the 25:04.967 --> 25:09.797 leader, who wasn't there, where they were standing. 25:09.800 --> 25:14.870 The Hippodrome, the horse racing arena in 25:14.867 --> 25:16.797 Constantinople, was a bit like this. 25:16.800 --> 25:21.230 The Emperor had his own box and the people could make sort 25:21.233 --> 25:28.033 of celebratory gestures to him, praise him, and if they 25:28.033 --> 25:32.033 were in a rebellious mood, criticize him as well. 25:32.033 --> 25:35.373 There were of circus factions, as they're called. 25:35.367 --> 25:40.127 That is, people who were cheering for one side or 25:40.133 --> 25:43.203 another, the most important of which in Constantinople are 25:43.200 --> 25:47.070 the Blues and the Greens. 25:47.067 --> 25:52.427 The Greens tended to be somewhat pro-Monophysite. 25:52.433 --> 25:56.803 And Theodora was a partisan of the Greens. 25:56.800 --> 25:59.770 The Blues, anti-Monophysite, Justinian was 25:59.767 --> 26:01.297 a partisan of theirs. 26:01.300 --> 26:06.630 In 532, the circus factions revolted. 26:06.633 --> 26:10.073 Partly, it's a tax revolt. 26:10.067 --> 26:15.197 Partly it's factions fighting. 26:15.200 --> 26:18.270 It doesn't do to try to probe what these factions 26:18.267 --> 26:20.167 represented too much. 26:20.167 --> 26:22.497 After a while, they're simply factions. 26:22.500 --> 26:24.370 They're simply people who like to fight. 26:24.367 --> 26:27.897 Or who like to root for one side or another. 26:27.900 --> 26:32.900 But they are rowdy, and even criminal. 26:32.900 --> 26:37.270 They have very outlandish costumes. 26:37.267 --> 26:40.367 They expend all their money and all their energy on 26:40.367 --> 26:42.427 sporting events and on rowdiness 26:42.433 --> 26:43.973 associated with them. 26:43.967 --> 26:47.597 This is not completely unfamiliar. 26:47.600 --> 26:49.800 The prefect of the city arrested seven people for 26:49.800 --> 26:53.800 rioting and condemned them to death. 26:53.800 --> 26:57.730 Two of them escaped when the rope broke. 26:57.733 --> 27:00.673 It always pays to maintain your-- 27:00.667 --> 27:03.567 I mean, this is a tip from a historian-- 27:03.567 --> 27:07.827 always pays to maintain your coercive equipment. 27:07.833 --> 27:11.773 Once these guys escaped, then they were heroes. 27:11.767 --> 27:13.697 And they were shielded from the crowd. 27:13.700 --> 27:17.100 They were put in a monastery where they had sanctuary. 27:17.100 --> 27:20.000 And conveniently enough, one was a Blue 27:20.000 --> 27:21.670 and one was a Green. 27:21.667 --> 27:24.327 So the Blues and the Greens united. 27:24.333 --> 27:26.373 They ran through the streets demanding 27:26.367 --> 27:32.227 pardon for the escapees. 27:32.233 --> 27:35.903 And when Justinian refused, a riot took place. 27:35.900 --> 27:44.430 The battle cry of these rioters was "Victory." Right? 27:44.433 --> 27:49.533 Nika, not to be confused with sporting equipment. 27:49.533 --> 27:50.733 Nika - victory. 27:50.733 --> 27:54.503 The crowds tried to overthrow Justinian and Theodora. 27:54.500 --> 27:56.770 And in the process, they burned down a lot of the city. 28:00.367 --> 28:04.127 Justinian is reported by Procopius as 28:04.133 --> 28:06.303 being ready to flee. 28:06.300 --> 28:09.670 But Theodora stiffened his resolve, basically telling him 28:09.667 --> 28:15.827 she preferred to die in the shroud of the imperial robes, 28:15.833 --> 28:24.373 rather than flee in disguise, and mobilized the generals, 28:24.367 --> 28:25.767 Belisarius and Narses. 28:25.767 --> 28:30.997 We've met Belisarius already. 28:31.000 --> 28:35.870 And they cracked down on the mob and killed 28:35.867 --> 28:41.497 maybe 40,000 of them. 28:41.500 --> 28:43.330 How many people attend a Yankee game? 28:43.333 --> 28:45.103 About 80,000? 28:45.100 --> 28:52.130 So 30,000, 40,000 people, and that ended the riots. 28:52.133 --> 28:54.533 Constantinople was partially burned. 28:54.533 --> 28:56.633 Justinian loved building. 28:56.633 --> 28:58.233 This was a great opportunity. 28:58.233 --> 29:03.533 He couldn't have asked for a better moment, in a sense. 29:03.533 --> 29:07.633 Of course, it required more taxes, but people now had seen 29:07.633 --> 29:12.173 the problems with resisting taxes. 29:12.167 --> 29:15.727 And so this is where we start the building of the new Hagia 29:15.733 --> 29:19.433 Sofia that we see today. 29:19.433 --> 29:20.703 Built in five years. 29:24.267 --> 29:29.667 Compare this to grand projects like you know an exit on the 29:29.667 --> 29:33.667 Connecticut Turnpike, which take fifteen years or so. 29:33.667 --> 29:36.267 The way you build something in five years is by an incredible 29:36.267 --> 29:38.627 number of workmen. 29:38.633 --> 29:43.203 And lavish expenditure of money. 29:43.200 --> 29:45.530 The patriarch's throne in Hagia 29:45.533 --> 29:46.833 Sofia was made of silver. 29:46.833 --> 29:50.773 It weighed 40,000 pounds. 29:50.767 --> 29:56.967 The columns are of porphyry, many of them. 29:56.967 --> 29:59.667 It uses a lot of glass in order to emit light. 29:59.667 --> 30:03.927 And the light comes from so far away that it forms these 30:03.933 --> 30:06.203 wonderful patterns, depending on the time of day. 30:08.700 --> 30:12.170 Justinian also rebuilt the Senate, the baths, the 30:12.167 --> 30:16.397 imperial palace, and in the Church of Saint Irene, the 30:16.400 --> 30:20.830 Church of the Apostles, et cetera, et cetera. 30:20.833 --> 30:28.533 He started his wars against Persia before the Nika revolt. 30:28.533 --> 30:32.103 And the war with Persia is one episode of a 30:32.100 --> 30:33.370 multi-century war. 30:33.367 --> 30:36.167 In this case, it's over influence in the Caucasus. 30:38.767 --> 30:42.667 But it's really about trying to protect Byzantium from 30:42.667 --> 30:45.597 Persian invasion. 30:45.600 --> 30:47.870 But as I said, Justinian's interest was 30:47.867 --> 30:50.897 not really in Persia. 30:50.900 --> 30:57.270 He was interested in peace with Persia and in securing 30:57.267 --> 31:00.567 enough of the frontier so that the Persians couldn't launch, 31:00.567 --> 31:04.267 at least not easily, a surprise attack. 31:04.267 --> 31:10.697 And in 531, the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia signed a 31:10.700 --> 31:11.970 perpetual peace. 31:14.833 --> 31:19.533 And Justinian then moved his troops to the west, the site 31:19.533 --> 31:22.903 of his real ambitions. 31:22.900 --> 31:29.230 The Vandal War in North Africa was a triumph. 31:29.233 --> 31:33.233 What we're seeing is one of those cases in which a policy 31:33.233 --> 31:36.703 seems to succeed miraculously easily. 31:36.700 --> 31:39.970 The Vandals fell, it seemed, without a fight. 31:39.967 --> 31:50.297 Here, the people who had been the terror of Rome 100 years 31:50.300 --> 31:54.270 earlier, who had sacked Rome in 455, who had seized the 31:54.267 --> 31:58.267 granary of Rome in 430, fell almost, it 31:58.267 --> 32:00.367 seemed, without a fight. 32:00.367 --> 32:05.397 True, the native Berber population who were 32:05.400 --> 32:10.130 subordinate to the Vandals, desert people, revolted. 32:10.133 --> 32:14.133 And they were able to raid the coast and to undermine the 32:14.133 --> 32:17.303 position of the Byzantine occupiers. 32:21.233 --> 32:25.973 The next stop was Italy in 535. 32:25.967 --> 32:29.997 533 - 534, the conquest of Africa. 32:30.000 --> 32:33.470 But Italy would take twenty years, not one. 32:33.467 --> 32:37.897 And in the process, Italy itself would be devastated. 32:37.900 --> 32:40.870 And with that devastation, a lot of classical culture would 32:40.867 --> 32:43.827 be lost. What wasn't destroyed by the fifth century 32:43.833 --> 32:44.533 invasions-- 32:44.533 --> 32:48.033 and remember we said the Ostrogoths were pretty 32:48.033 --> 32:50.873 reasonable occupiers-- 32:50.867 --> 32:54.697 would be destroyed by the Romans themselves. 32:57.567 --> 33:02.397 I will not tax you with the ins and outs, and ups and 33:02.400 --> 33:03.600 downs of this campaign. 33:03.600 --> 33:07.130 Suffice it to say that the general, Belisarius, at first 33:07.133 --> 33:09.303 was able to triumph in Italy. 33:09.300 --> 33:11.970 The Ostrogothic resistance, however, proved to be much 33:11.967 --> 33:13.867 stronger than he expected. 33:13.867 --> 33:22.397 And Justinian recalled Belisarius. 33:25.267 --> 33:28.327 Almost all of Italy was reoccupied by the Ostrogoths 33:28.333 --> 33:33.333 and it was only the second general, Narses, who from 552 33:33.333 --> 33:36.603 to 555 is able to take over Italy. 33:41.333 --> 33:47.333 540 is the year that Ravenna falls to the Byzantines, and 33:47.333 --> 33:50.833 it seems to be the zenith of Justinian's reign. 33:53.533 --> 33:57.473 In that year, the Persians invaded. 33:57.467 --> 34:01.627 That perpetual peace had lasted nine years. 34:01.633 --> 34:06.273 And the Persian invasion was quite successful. 34:10.967 --> 34:15.267 It resulted in the sack of the largest city of the Empire 34:15.267 --> 34:19.197 after Constantinople and Alexandria, the city of 34:19.200 --> 34:22.600 Antioch in the Eastern Mediterranean. 34:26.367 --> 34:32.197 And this was followed then by a plague. 34:32.200 --> 34:35.170 The so-called Justinianic Plague, which seems to be 34:35.167 --> 34:40.397 related perhaps to the plague of Peracles' Athens or the 34:40.400 --> 34:44.770 Athens of the Peloponnesian War, and maybe to the Black 34:44.767 --> 34:49.497 Death of 1348, 1349. 34:49.500 --> 34:50.370 Hard to say. 34:50.367 --> 34:55.967 And in fact, research now being done on the DNA in mass 34:55.967 --> 35:00.297 graves from that plague will perhaps tell us what the 35:00.300 --> 35:02.200 disease really was. 35:02.200 --> 35:03.930 Although so far, apparently, it hasn't. 35:07.933 --> 35:13.673 So from 540 to 565, the death of Justinian, his policies are 35:13.667 --> 35:15.867 officially successful. 35:15.867 --> 35:18.997 555, the fall of Italy. 35:19.000 --> 35:21.370 The plague eventually goes away. 35:21.367 --> 35:25.867 The Persians are pushed out of Antioch, at least. But the 35:25.867 --> 35:30.027 Empire in the later years of Justinian is clearly 35:30.033 --> 35:37.003 staggering under the weight of taxation, economic downturn, 35:37.000 --> 35:42.400 declining population, and over-extension. 35:42.400 --> 35:44.870 They had conquered Italy, but the Italy they had conquered 35:44.867 --> 35:46.097 was ruined. 35:48.667 --> 35:53.767 And this empire, stretching now from Sicily to the Persian 35:53.767 --> 35:58.627 frontier is clearly too big to hold onto. 35:58.633 --> 36:04.673 So this is some of what Procopius' anger is about. 36:04.667 --> 36:15.027 But he's bitter and disillusioned. 36:15.033 --> 36:17.003 He says, "But I grow dizzy when I 36:17.000 --> 36:18.630 write of such suffering. 36:18.633 --> 36:21.473 And pass on to future times it's memories." Here, he's 36:21.467 --> 36:24.767 speaking about the Persian invasion of Antioch. 36:24.767 --> 36:28.367 "For I cannot understand why it is the will of God to exalt 36:28.367 --> 36:32.197 the fortunes of a man, or place him and cast them down 36:32.200 --> 36:35.800 for no reason that we can see." 36:35.800 --> 36:38.800 Now if you contrast him with what you've read in Augustine, 36:38.800 --> 36:42.570 in The Confessions, you can see that Augustine has some 36:42.567 --> 36:45.427 reasons why this happens. 36:45.433 --> 36:48.503 Procopius resists the Christian explanation here. 36:48.500 --> 36:52.300 And this is led some observers to think, in general, that 36:52.300 --> 36:56.170 he's not really somehow a Christian. 36:56.167 --> 36:59.697 He is, but he's writing in a classical tradition. 36:59.700 --> 37:04.270 And he is also, remember, an "elitist" a conservative. 37:04.267 --> 37:07.727 I use the term elitist in a fairly neutral sense. 37:07.733 --> 37:11.473 It's hard to expect someone whose writings come down to us 37:11.467 --> 37:15.567 all this length of time to be, somehow, an ordinary person. 37:15.567 --> 37:18.727 Yes, he represents a class. 37:18.733 --> 37:21.373 But doesn't really like religious controversy. 37:21.367 --> 37:28.097 But doesn't really like all of the fussing about the natures 37:28.100 --> 37:30.600 or nature of Christ. 37:30.600 --> 37:33.170 But there are other things that are not in Procopius that 37:33.167 --> 37:34.527 are somewhat surprising. 37:34.533 --> 37:40.773 Justinian is best known for architectural monuments like 37:40.767 --> 37:44.627 Hagia Sofia; to historians, for what we are essentially 37:44.633 --> 37:50.403 talking about today, the Western conquest; and for his 37:50.400 --> 37:54.970 legal reforms, the Justinianic Law Code, which is the basis 37:54.967 --> 37:57.667 of all European law. 37:57.667 --> 38:01.527 European, that is, as opposed to Anglo-American. 38:01.533 --> 38:04.473 Anglo-American law is a separate tradition. 38:04.467 --> 38:08.727 European law is based ultimately on a reworking of 38:08.733 --> 38:11.533 Roman law precedents. 38:11.533 --> 38:13.833 And so I want to talk a little bit about his legal 38:13.833 --> 38:18.503 accomplishment, which Procopius, a man who would be 38:18.500 --> 38:23.670 familiar with law courts, with legal systems, doesn't tell us 38:23.667 --> 38:25.497 anything about in his works. 38:25.500 --> 38:26.770 Virtually nothing. 38:29.300 --> 38:34.470 Justinian essentially codified the Roman law. 38:34.467 --> 38:37.567 And this is important, not only because it's the basis of 38:37.567 --> 38:40.867 European law, but law is related to political and 38:40.867 --> 38:42.027 administrative order. 38:42.033 --> 38:45.303 However much we may hate bureaucracy, or denounce 38:45.300 --> 38:52.070 administration, that is how governments provide whatever 38:52.067 --> 38:55.097 it is they are providing for their citizens. 38:55.100 --> 39:00.100 And since the alternative to government is anarchy, and 39:00.100 --> 39:03.030 since there are examples before our eyes of anarchic 39:03.033 --> 39:08.633 societies, it won't do to underestimate the benefits of 39:08.633 --> 39:14.073 law, however cynical we may be about its implementation. 39:14.067 --> 39:18.297 Roman law at the time of Justinian was, as law tends to 39:18.300 --> 39:22.400 be, learned and unwieldy. 39:22.400 --> 39:27.500 If you wanted to know how to resolve a question, you could 39:27.500 --> 39:33.270 go through the thousands and thousands of what are called 39:33.267 --> 39:37.197 "responsae", or you could look at legislation. 39:37.200 --> 39:40.300 Just as in the Anglo-American tradition, and some of you 39:40.300 --> 39:43.900 will learn this very soon in law school, you can either 39:43.900 --> 39:48.630 look at statutes passed by legislatures or court cases-- 39:48.633 --> 39:50.333 precedents. 39:50.333 --> 39:53.803 The equivalent of a statute, Connecticut passes a law 39:53.800 --> 39:56.770 saying that you can't have a gun in your car. 39:56.767 --> 40:01.167 Whereas Texas has laws that say you could have a gun in 40:01.167 --> 40:03.967 your car under such and such circumstances, OK? 40:03.967 --> 40:10.367 So you have a whole set of statute law, which would be 40:10.367 --> 40:14.267 imperial statutes in the Roman Empire, imperial legislation. 40:17.233 --> 40:25.333 Or, if the statutes don't cover a particular situation, 40:25.333 --> 40:27.973 or you want something that has the particularity-- 40:35.300 --> 40:39.270 a tree on my property falls on my neighbor's-- 40:39.267 --> 40:41.027 did I mention this already? 40:41.033 --> 40:42.373 Yeah, that one-- 40:42.367 --> 40:43.597 on my neighbor's garage. 40:46.233 --> 40:47.933 Who's to blame? 40:47.933 --> 40:52.703 OK, you go and you say, well, this case came up in 40:52.700 --> 40:59.300 Cincinnati in 1949, and this is what the judge found. 40:59.300 --> 41:03.100 In the absence of computers, the search for this 41:03.100 --> 41:05.230 stuff is very hard. 41:05.233 --> 41:11.473 In Anglo-American law this is called "precedent." In Roman 41:11.467 --> 41:14.867 law, they're called "responsae." And interestingly 41:14.867 --> 41:17.927 enough, this term is also singular, plural. 41:17.933 --> 41:20.433 It applies to Jewish law. 41:20.433 --> 41:23.503 A response is a response. 41:23.500 --> 41:28.000 A judge, an expert, a law professor, in effect, is asked 41:28.000 --> 41:29.900 his opinion on something. 41:29.900 --> 41:32.900 And his response becomes preserved 41:32.900 --> 41:34.170 as a kind of precedent. 41:37.100 --> 41:41.030 These were voluminous and represented centuries of law. 41:41.033 --> 41:44.733 And even more, of course, the responsae conflicted. 41:44.733 --> 41:49.033 One judge says, "You have to pay because it was your tree." 41:49.033 --> 41:54.503 Another says, "It's an accident, he's responsible for 41:54.500 --> 41:57.400 his own remedies." 41:57.400 --> 41:59.230 What do you do if you have a conflict of judges? 41:59.233 --> 42:01.773 What would you do if you have two kinds of 42:01.767 --> 42:04.167 contradictory responses? 42:04.167 --> 42:07.367 You've got to decide who is more authoritative? 42:07.367 --> 42:09.827 Which one is better? 42:09.833 --> 42:14.373 So the work of Justinian's compilers was to sort out 42:14.367 --> 42:19.997 legislation, statutes, and the responses, and also to decide 42:20.000 --> 42:23.700 among contradictory ones. 42:23.700 --> 42:25.430 What is in this law? 42:25.433 --> 42:26.873 Well, what's in any law? 42:26.867 --> 42:30.797 We think of law as having mostly to do with criminals 42:30.800 --> 42:31.800 and stuff like that. 42:31.800 --> 42:34.170 But criminal law is actually very simple. 42:34.167 --> 42:37.597 It's like the Burgundian code. 42:37.600 --> 42:40.970 If you murder someone, this is what's going to happen to you. 42:40.967 --> 42:42.597 There may be different kinds of killing. 42:42.600 --> 42:45.530 If you murder them with intent and premeditation, that's 42:45.533 --> 42:47.803 worse than if you murder them in a fight and spontaneously. 42:52.133 --> 42:54.733 Manslaughter is different from murder. 42:54.733 --> 42:56.703 Manslaughter is where you didn't intend to kill the 42:56.700 --> 42:59.170 person, but you did. 42:59.167 --> 43:01.897 You punched him, and you didn't know they had a weak 43:01.900 --> 43:03.170 heart and he died. 43:03.167 --> 43:05.627 That's manslaughter. 43:05.633 --> 43:06.473 You punched them. 43:06.467 --> 43:08.267 You intended to hurt him, but you didn't intend to kill him, 43:08.267 --> 43:10.897 but he died. 43:10.900 --> 43:12.170 Vehicular manslaughter. 43:14.367 --> 43:16.597 What's the difference between negligence-- 43:16.600 --> 43:18.770 you should have seen something and you didn't-- versus 43:18.767 --> 43:20.227 criminal intent? 43:20.233 --> 43:21.473 You did it deliberately. 43:24.600 --> 43:28.470 But it's very simple, the criminal law. 43:28.467 --> 43:32.267 There aren't a whole lot of gray areas, and you can get 43:32.267 --> 43:34.367 through the criminal code pretty quickly. 43:34.367 --> 43:37.627 But what about contracts? 43:37.633 --> 43:39.903 What about property? 43:39.900 --> 43:41.600 This is endless. 43:41.600 --> 43:42.630 This is endless. 43:42.633 --> 43:49.033 So you know in law school, criminal law will be the 43:49.033 --> 43:56.173 cream, or the tip of the proverbial iceberg, or some 43:56.167 --> 43:57.867 little side issue. 43:57.867 --> 44:00.727 Most of your time is going to be spent on-- 44:00.733 --> 44:02.973 those of you who go for this option-- 44:02.967 --> 44:05.697 on property and contracts. 44:05.700 --> 44:08.300 And that's what the Justinian law is mostly: property and 44:08.300 --> 44:12.900 contracts, legal arrangements for buying and selling, 44:12.900 --> 44:18.630 inheriting, partnerships, guardianships, security, 44:18.633 --> 44:22.133 surety, obligations. 44:22.133 --> 44:26.103 This is a very advanced science in Roman law. 44:26.100 --> 44:30.200 As advanced as it is anywhere, at any time. 44:30.200 --> 44:34.870 This is very different from "You cut off one finger; you 44:34.867 --> 44:39.367 pay five solidi", which we were looking at last week. 44:39.367 --> 44:43.397 The work that ensued, the so-called Justinianic code, or 44:43.400 --> 44:54.670 the Corpus Iuris Civilis, the body of civil law, was drawn 44:54.667 --> 44:55.927 up in five years. 44:55.933 --> 45:00.173 Here, again, is an example of unbelievable rapidity, 45:00.167 --> 45:06.197 compared with the length of time it takes now, merely to 45:06.200 --> 45:11.000 reform the Connecticut tax code-- 45:11.000 --> 45:13.430 for that matter. 45:13.433 --> 45:17.473 It was undertaken by a commission. 45:17.467 --> 45:20.867 Four books were issued. 45:20.867 --> 45:23.467 The first is a collection of statutes, and 45:23.467 --> 45:24.697 it's called the Codex. 45:27.033 --> 45:31.103 Collected laws of the Senate and imperial 45:31.100 --> 45:35.330 laws of previous centuries. 45:35.333 --> 45:41.203 The largest book is the Digest, or in Latin, Digesta. 45:41.200 --> 45:48.930 The Digest is the weeded-out responsae, 45:48.933 --> 45:52.233 organized by subject. 45:52.233 --> 45:57.333 So this would be where you would go to try and figure out 45:57.333 --> 46:01.633 what happens if a river changes its course a little, 46:01.633 --> 46:07.773 and your land seems to be now taken over by your neighbor. 46:07.767 --> 46:12.597 Is the river the border, or is an artificial line the border? 46:18.700 --> 46:21.770 The third book is a kind of textbook, or a survey of the 46:21.767 --> 46:24.967 whole law and what it's supposed to mean called the 46:24.967 --> 46:26.197 Institutes. 46:28.933 --> 46:32.603 And the fourth is called the Novella, or new laws, because 46:32.600 --> 46:34.600 obviously, new laws would have to be made. 46:37.367 --> 46:40.797 The Codex, the Digest, the Institutes are in Latin, 46:40.800 --> 46:43.400 because Latin was the language of the Roman Empire. 46:43.400 --> 46:47.200 But the Novella are in Greek, because Greek was the language 46:47.200 --> 46:49.600 of the Empire now. 46:49.600 --> 46:53.830 "Now" being 534 when this work was finished. 46:57.200 --> 47:00.830 The Justinianic Code is more, however, than a rearrangement 47:00.833 --> 47:02.103 of old laws. 47:02.100 --> 47:08.970 It displayed a consistent philosophy of government where 47:08.967 --> 47:14.497 law is more than precedent, is an active force in society. 47:14.500 --> 47:17.830 The Emperor is seen as the servant of the law, the 47:17.833 --> 47:19.473 implementer of the law, but he's also the 47:19.467 --> 47:21.197 master of the law. 47:21.200 --> 47:22.630 He is an absolute power. 47:22.633 --> 47:24.733 He is the embodiment of the law. 47:29.133 --> 47:36.833 This is a well-run, immense, burdensome empire. 47:36.833 --> 47:41.233 Procopius gives us, unreliable though he may be as to 47:41.233 --> 47:45.173 Justinian being a demon, et cetera, Procopius gives us a 47:45.167 --> 47:50.467 vivid picture of a highly-governed, even 47:50.467 --> 47:54.127 efficiently-governed, but oppressively-governed and very 47:54.133 --> 47:55.403 ambitious society. 47:58.733 --> 48:02.103 Now for next week, and a little bit after, remember we 48:02.100 --> 48:03.330 have no class on Wednesday. 48:03.333 --> 48:05.903 We have class on Monday. 48:05.900 --> 48:11.000 We are going to read from Gregory of Tours about Clovis 48:11.000 --> 48:12.500 and the Franks. 48:12.500 --> 48:17.000 And it will seem more violent and more primitive than what 48:17.000 --> 48:18.930 we've been reading. 48:18.933 --> 48:20.833 But violence and primitiveness, unfortunately, 48:20.833 --> 48:24.403 are part of history and government at almost any time. 48:24.400 --> 48:27.130 And so, enjoy the intrigue. 48:27.133 --> 48:28.933 I'm not going to test you on the names. 48:28.933 --> 48:32.703 You'll see there are lots of great cat names of the 48:32.700 --> 48:34.400 Frankish barbarians. 48:34.400 --> 48:38.030 But pay attention to the figure of Clovis, and to the 48:38.033 --> 48:39.873 attitude of Gregory. 48:39.867 --> 48:43.867 Because, as with Procopius, we've got an interesting, if 48:43.867 --> 48:45.267 not completely reliable source.