The Byzantine Empire

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 dismisscc1
by modern historians as depressing and
monotonous. The great Gibbon had branded the
successors of Justinian and lIeraclius as a series of
vicious weaklings, and for SC'cral gcnerations no one
dared to contradict him.
Two books ha'e served to undeceive the English
reader, the monumenta.l work of Finlay, published ill
I ~ 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 the
great vork or the' Eas.!-RumaILEmpire. in holdingback
fhc Saracen, and in keeping aliye throll~hout
the parK Ag.~tl.1e_J.amp Of le·arning,i:i..b.cgionjng to
be realized.
-the writer of thjs book has endeavoured to tell
the story of Byzantium in the spirit of Finlay and
Bury, not in that or Gibbon. 1 Ie wishes
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