Description:PREFACE.FIFTY vear.:; a~ro the word "R)'Zalltine " was used ~ .,a:; a synonym for all that \'as corrupt and decadent,and the tale of the East-Roman Empire was dismisscc1by modern historians as depressing andmonotonous. The great Gibbon had branded thesuccessors of Justinian and lIeraclius as a series ofvicious weaklings, and for SC'cral gcnerations no onedared to contradict him.Two books ha'e served to undeceive the Englishreader, the monumenta.l work of Finlay, published illI ~ 56, and the more 1l1Odcrn volumes of 1"1 r. Bury,which appeared ill 1889_ Since they ha'c writtell,the Byzantines no lon~er need an apologist, and thegreat vork or the' Eas.!-RumaILEmpire. in holdingbackfhc Saracen, and in keeping aliye throll~houtthe parK Ag.~tl.1e_J.amp Of le·arning,i:i..b.cgionjng tobe realized.-the writer of thjs book has endeavoured to tellthe story of Byzantium in the spirit of Finlay andBury, not in that or Gibbon. 1 Ie wishesTable of Contents