665-669]

Murder of Constans

395

Sicilian subjects: but he was so far successful that no further invasion of Sicily was made while he lived, and in Africa, though the patrician Nicephorus is said to have been defeated in 665, no permanent conquest was effected till after his death. From Syracuse he sent for his wife and sons; but, as this foreshadowed a transfer of the seat of government, the citizens, headed by Andrew the chamberlain and the patrician Theodore of Colonia, refused to let them go.

It was not only at Constantinople that Constans was unpopular; and in 668 a plot was formed among those who surrounded him, one of whom, Andrew, son of Troilus, while the Emperor was bathing, poured an unusual quantity of soap over his face so as to blind him, and then killed him by striking him on the head with a silver ewer (15 July). The army proclaimed as emperor an Armenian named Mzhezh, who is Isaid to have been of high character, but seems to have had no other recommendation except good looks, and was reluctant to accept the honour. His elevation found no favour elsewhere, the armies of Italy, Sardinia, and Africa united to overthrow him,' the rebellion collapsed (Feb. 669), and the assassin Andrew, Mzhezh himself, and his chief adherents suffered death, among them the patrician Justinian, whose young son, Germanus, afterwards patriarch, was mutilated.

Before turning to the eastern war it is necessary to speak of the military and administrative organization which by a process we cannot trace in detail had been growing up during the reigns of Heraclius and Constans. The co-ordination of civil and military officials instituted by Diocletian had been greatly modified by Justinian, who in many places combined both functions in the hands of one man. From this time the civil governors, where they still existed, gradually became subservient to the military power, and the process was completed by the Persian and Saracen invasions, which made military rule a necessity, while the loss of the eastern provinces caused a new distribution of forces, and therefore new administrative divisions. Hitherto Asia Minor had hardly needed defence; and the only large contingent permanently stationed there was a portion of the palatine troops under the magister militum praesentalis quartered in the north-west, where in a district reaching from Paphlagonia and Galatia to the Hellespont they still remained under the name of imperiale obsequium (óvíkov), while their commander bore the title of Count. Of the countries under the magister militum per Orientem only Isauria and Cilicia remained; but, as his troops were required to defend southern Asia Minor, they were also quartered in part of Cappadocia and the district to the west of it, but were still known as Orientales (ávaroko). Further west by the Aegean was a section of the Thracian army which had followed Heraclius to the Persian war and were known as Thracesii; but these were under the Anatolic general. Armenia and 1 For the alleged expedition of the young Emperor see Byz. Zeitschr. XVII. 455. I infer the date from Michael, p. 437.

396

Arab Raids

[661-668

Pontus Polemoniacus had been placed by Justinian under a magister militum per Armeniam; and these provinces with Helenopontus and part of Cappadocia were still occupied by the Armeniaci. Thrace was still ruled by the successor of Justinian's praetor, and the Aegean islands obeyed the commander of the naval forces (carabisiani), who took the place of Justinian's quaestor Justinianus, and also exercised jurisdiction, at least for some purposes, over most of the south coast of Asia Minor.1 Each of these divisions was called a theme (Oéμa), and the title of the commanders of all except Obsequium was σrparnyós. Illyricum was almost lost; but the Illyrian praefect still ruled in Thessalonica, exercising military as well as civil powers. The provincial governors perhaps remained as minor judicial officers, but the vicars of the dioceses had disappeared. Of the great civil functionaries, the city-praefect, the magister officiorum (μáyloтpos), and the quaestor retained their old titles; but the comes largitionum was now known as λoyo@érηS TOû YEVLKOD and the comes rei privatae as sacellarius (treasurer), while the praefect of the East may have survived under some other title, with greatly reduced functions. The general tendency of these changes was to abolish the dependence of one official on another, and bring them all into direct relation to the Emperor.

In 661 Hasan's abdication enabled Mu'awiya to renew the war. A raid by Ḥabib in 661 effected nothing; but in 662 the Romans were defeated, and in 663 Busr wintered in the Empire. As Constans had taken the bulk of the Anatolic theme to the West, 'Abdar-Rahman, son of the celebrated Khalid, could advance in 664 to Colonia (Archelais), where he wintered, and in 665, after failing in an attack on some islands in Lake Caralis, he placed a garrison in Amorium, the head-quarters of the Anatolics, which was forced to capitulate, took Pessinus, and, after an unsuccessful attack on another fortified place, Cius, Pergamum, and Smyrna. Having been joined by some of the Slav colonists, he again wintered in Roman territory, and then returned to Emesa, where he soon afterwards died, it is said by poison (666).

In 666 Malik made a raid from Adata and wintered in Roman territory, and in 667 Busr ravaged the district of Hexapolis, west of Melitene, while another force wintered at Antioch in Pisidia: but in 668 the rebellion of Sapor, now general of the Armeniacs, gave an opening for a more dangerous attack. Sapor sent Sergius, one of his subordinates, to ask for the Caliph's support; and on hearing of this the young Constantine, who was ruling in his father's absence, sent Andrew the chamberlain to present gifts to Mu'awiya and beg him not to countenance rebellion. The two envoys met at the Caliph's court, and Mu'awiya decided in favour of Sergius, who insulted Andrew by calling him not a man but a eunuch. Andrew retreated by the pass of Arabissus on the road to Hexapolis, where Sapor then was, the commandant of 1 The territorial jurisdiction of the naval σrpaтnyos was perhaps developed later.

668-679]

Attacks on Constantinople

397

which still held for the Emperor, and having instructed this officer to watch for Sergius and arrest him if he passed that way, went on to a place called Amnesia. Here Sergius was brought as a prisoner, and Andrew avenged the insult to himself by having him mutilated and then hanged. Sapor now advanced to Hadrianopolis in Bithynia; and Mu'awiya sent Faḍāla to his assistance, while Constantine sent Nicephorus to oppose him. But, while Sapor was riding before the walls, his horse bolted and dashed his head against the gate, which caused his death. His men then returned to their allegiance; and Faḍāla, who had only reached Hexapolis, was obliged to ask for reinforcements, which were sent under Mu'awiya's son, Yazid, while a fleet under another Yazid supported the army. The Arabs advanced to Chalcedon, and in spring 669 crossed to Thrace and attacked Constantinople, which was defended by Constantine (usually known as Pogonatus), now reigning Emperor. No serious siege was however undertaken; and in the summer pestilence and lack of food compelled them to retire: but on their way back they took Amorium, in which a garrison was placed. During the winter however Andrew surprised the town by night in deep snow and slew the Arabs to a man.

In 670 Faḍāla came again by sea to the Propontis and wintered at Cyzicus; and during the years 668-671 other lesser raids took place. In 672 Busr carried off numerous prisoners, and in 673 another great effort was made. A fleet under Mahomet wintered at Smyrna, and another under Kais in Lycia, with which an army under Sufyan co-operated, and a colony was settled in Rhodes, while an attack on Constantinople was being planned, to meet which Constantine prepared fireships provided with Greek fire, the invention of the Syrian architect Callinicus. On the arrival of reinforcements the combined fleet appeared before Constantinople in spring 674, and after occupying Cyzicus assailed the city without success from April to September, and returned to Cyzicus for the winter. The same year Faḍāla and 'Abdallah wintered in Crete; and other expeditions were made every year without important result: but meanwhile the fleet at Cyzicus attacked Constantinople each year down to 677,' when the loss in men and ships compelled it to withdraw. On its return it suffered severely from a storm off the Pamphylian coast, what remained of it was attacked by the division of the Roman fleet which from the town of Cibyra in Pamphylia was called Cibyrrhaeotae, and few, if any, ships returned home. This disaster and the Mardaite invasion of Phoenice and Palestine (678) caused Mu'awiya for the second time to buy peace by paying tribute. The colony in Rhodes was now withdrawn, and the fortress of Camacha on the Euphrates, which the Arabs had after two earlier unsuccessful attempts taken in 679, restored. The garrison in Cyprus was removed by Yazid, but the island continued to

The invitation to the pope in 678 to send deputies to Constantinople shews that the siege did not last beyond 677.

398

Origin of Monothelete Controversy

[618-631

pay tribute. The last raid was one in Isauria in the early part of 680. Peace having been thus secured on the east, the Khan of the Avars and other barbarian rulers sent presents and made treaties with the Emperor.

Meanwhile a theological controversy which seemed likely to cause a division between East and West and facilitate usurpations like that of Mzhezh was demanding the attention of the government. The disaffection of Egypt and the East arising from the Synod of Chalcedon had long been a menace to the Empire and had led to Zeno's attempt to restore union through the Henotikon and the attempt of Justinian to placate the Monophysites by the condemnation of the Three Chapters ; but in neither case was permanent success attained. The rapid conquests of the Persians drew the attention of Heraclius to this state of affairs, and led him to try a plan suggested by the patriarch Sergius, himself a Syrian by birth, to whom it had occurred that the Monophysites might accept the expression "two natures" if satisfied that this did not imply two operations (évépyeia). About 618 accordingly Sergius wrote to the Egyptian George Arsas, one of the Paulianist section of the Monophysites, adherents of the patriarch Paul of Antioch, deposed in 578, asking for quotations in support of the doctrine of one operation, and suggesting a union on this basis. Further steps in this direction were however prevented by the Persian occupation of Egypt. In 622 again Heraclius during his Armenian campaign conversed with a Monophysite leader named Paul, to whom he propounded the doctrine of one operation, but without success. He then drew up an edict against Paul, which was sent to Arcadius of Cyprus, in which the doctrine of two operations was condemned. In 626, while in Lazica, he discussed the question with Cyrus, bishop of Phasis, who was doubtful on the point and wrote to Sergius for information. Sergius answered his objections and sent him a copy of a letter of Menas of Constantinople to Pope Vigilius in which one operation was asserted: by this Cyrus seems to have been satisfied. Communication with the East having been restored in 628, Sergius sent the letter of Menas to Theodore, bishop of Faran near Sinai, who expressed his assent. This correspondence and Menas' letter were then sent to the Monophysite Paul at Theodosiopolis.

After the recovery of the East the plan of reconciliation was taken up in earnest. In 630 or 631 Heraclius met the patriarch Athanasius at Hierapolis in Syria and promised him the official patriarchate of Antioch (vacant since 610) if he would accept communion with the Chalcedonians on the basis of the doctrine of one operation; and to this he was ready to consent; but, though some Jacobite monasteries, especially that of Maron in the Lebanon, accepted the union, the patriarch's death wrecked the scheme (631). In 631 the Armenian Catholicus, Ezra, came on the Emperor's invitation to Syria, was

1 So Michael, and Elijah of Nisibis. Cf. Mansi, xi. p. 504, where Athanasius is distinguished from living heretics. Owsepian's chronology is untenable.

631-637]

Sophronius: Pope Honorius

399

induced to accept the communion of the Chalcedonians, and on his return ratified the union at a synod at Theodosiopolis, but without formally recognising the Synod of Chalcedon. In 632, on the death of the patriarch George, Cyrus was appointed to the see of Alexandria and immediately opened negotiations with the chief Monophysite party in the city, the Theodosians. With these a union was effected by means of nine articles, in which the doctrine of two natures was asserted with a qualification, and one theandric operation maintained, while there was no acceptance of the Synod of Chalcedon or anathema against the Monophysite leaders (3 June 633).

At this point opposition arose. Sophronius, a Palestinian monk, who was then in Alexandria, entreated Cyrus not to make public proclamation of the articles; whereupon Cyrus referred him to Sergius to whom he gave him a letter. As Sergius was unable to convince Sophronius, who was a man of great influence, the attempt at union seemed likely to cause a new schism: accordingly he agreed to a compromise by which both expressions "one operation" and "two operations" were to be avoided; and Sophronius with a letter of explanation from Sergius returned to Jerusalem, where early in 634 he was chosen patriarch. Sergius meanwhile wrote to Cyrus in the sense of the compromise; but Cyrus, not wishing to undo his own work, did not immediately accept it. Receiving a request from Heraclius at Edessa to send the quotations in support of the doctrine of one operation and one will contained in the letter of Menas, Sergius did so, but suggested that the controversy should cease. He then wrote an account of the affair to Pope Honorius, proposing that both expressions "one operation" and "two operations" should be rejected as stumbling-blocks, but specially reprobating the latter as implying the doctrine of two wills, which he condemned as impious. In answer to this Honorius concurred in the banishment of both expressions, and maintained the doctrine of one will, the advocates of which are generally known as Monotheletes. Sophronius now sent his synodical letter to the patriarchs, in which in accordance with the compact he avoided the expression "two operations," but strongly asserted the doctrine implied in it. This letter Sergius ignored: but Honorius wrote to Sophronius begging him to let the dispute drop; and the messengers of Sophronius said that he would do so if Cyrus would do the same. To him therefore the pope also sent a request to cease preaching one operation. Sophronius however sent bishop Stephen of Dora to Rome to try to bring the pope round to his side; but the capture of Jerusalem (637) and his own death, which soon followed, prevented any further action on his part, while in Egypt the abandonment of the doctrine on which the union was built destroyed the union itself, and the violent measures used by Cyrus to enforce conformity made matters worse than before.

The next step on the part of Sergius was to compose the Ekthesis,