The cruelty of Phocas towards the family of his predecessoi knew no bounds. He finally caused the innocent empress, Constantina, and her three daughters, to be executed on the same spot where her husband and sons had suffered, three years before.

10. Heraclius I., was crowned 610 A. C. His reign extended several years into the next succeeding period. The Persians ravaged his empire; but terribly defeating them in six successive campaigns, he brought them to a peace. He reigned more than thirty years.

During the last part of his reign, the foundation was laid of the caliphate of the Saracens, under the impostor Mahomet, whose history will claim our attention at the beginning of the next period.

KINGDOM OF ITALY.

KINGDOM OF ITALY.

11. The kingdom which was established on the ruins of the Western Empire of the Romans, is sometimes called the That country was held and governed, for the most part, by its northern conquerors, through the space of nearly three hundred years. During this time, however, there were several transfers of the sovereignty, from one of the barbarous tribes to another. The Heruli, who conquered the country in 476, held it till 493. It then passed from their hands into the possession of the Goths, or Ostrogoths, who held it till the year 568, when the Lombards seized and conquered the country. They were masters of the greatest portion of it, a little more than two centuries. period of which we treat, will carry the history of Italy only through a part of the above named space of time.

The

12. The kingdom of the Heruli in Italy, was of short continuance. Odoacer, their king, reigned thirteen years without opposition; but at the conclusion of that period, Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, or Eastern Goths, invaded Italy, and after a struggle of four years, defeated and slew Odoacer, usurping his dominions, 493 A. C.

§ In the year 489, Theodoric twice overcame Odoacer in battle; but being betrayed by one of his general officers, he retired to Pavia, where he was besieged by Odoacer. In his distress, Theodoric called in the assistance of the Visogoths, and gained a third victory in 490. Odoacer, shutting himself up in Ravenna, vigorously defended the place for three years. He was at last forced to enter into a treaty with Theodoric, and obtained a stipulation that his life should be spared. The Gothic monarch, however, perfidiously caused him tc be assassinated.

12 The kingdom of the Ostrogoths (eastern Goths) began, 493. Theodoric, (commonly surnamed the great,) their king, was now acknowledged the sovereign of the country, and fixed his residence at Ravenna. He was an Arian in principle, but protected the Catholics. He reigned about thirty-three years. His administration of government showed him to be an able prince. The people were probably benefitted by a change of masters.

§ Theodoric, at the age of six years, was given as a hostage to Leo 1. and remained thirteen years at Constantinople. He succeeded his father in Pannonia in 475. His success in his invasion of Italy, has already been mentioned. After a few years, his dominions consisted not only of Italy, and Sicily, but also of Dalmatia, Noricum, the two Rhotias, Pannonia, and Provence. The latter part of his reign was tarnished by cruelty and suspicion. In the indulgence of these propensities, he put to death the celebrated Boethius.

13. The successors of Theodoric, in the Gothic kingdom of Italy, were seven in number. It was during the reign of several of these monarchs, that the events already related respecting the invasion and conquest of Italy by Belisarius and Narses, occurred. The best known of the Gothic kings of this country are Theodotus, Vitiges, and Totila. After the death of Theias, the last of them, the Goths endeavoured, under several leaders, to re-establish their dominions, but were subdued by the eunuch, Narses, who administered the government as duke, till 567 A. C.

14. The kingdom of the Lombards followed, in 568 A. C. Alboin, king of this people, was invited into Italy by Narses, to avenge the insult he received from the emperor, Justin II., in his recall. Alboin penetrated into Italy, and was proclaimed its king at the date above mentioned. He reigned but a short time.

§ His end was tragical, as it perhaps deserved to be. Having killed Cunimund, king of the Gepida, in a single combat, he married Rosemond, that king's beautiful daughter, and made a drinking cup of her father's skull, out of which he obliged his queen to drink. She dissembled her indignant feelings, but applied to two officers for revenge. One of them had been affronted by the king, and the other she knew was enamoured of her person. These she admitted into the chamber where the king slept, who was immediately murdered, while she contrived to effect her escape to Ravenna.

15. During the remainder of the present period, there were four kings, the successors of Alboin, but none of them

were distinguished. An anarchy, of ten year's continuance took place after the death of one of the kings, during which Italy was governed by thirty dukes.

§ Autharis, one of the kings, after his accession, in 584, confirmed the dukes in their authority, on condition of their paying him half of their revenues, and serving under his command in times of war, with troops levied within their respective jurisdictions. This is considered by some, as the origin of the feudal system.

PERSIA.

16. Seven kings in succession, swayed the sceptre of PERSIA during this period. Of these, Chosroes II., the great, was the most conspicuous. During much of the time, the Persians were at war with the Romans. Sanguinary battles were fought, and provinces were taken and retaken. The Romans at last penetrated into Persia.

§ Chosroes II. was a warrior. He repeatedly overcame the Roman generals, and was as often, perhaps, overcome. In one instance, however, he cut to pieces an army of 50,000. The Greek historians, who probably exaggerate the matter, represent him as a ferocious monster. He doubtless had the vices of his predecessors, but surpassed them in great qualities. He reigned nearly fifty years. Chosroes III., son of Hormisdas, possessed the hateful character of a parricide. He caused his father to be beaten to death. He received, however, a terrible retribution, in the treatment he experienced from his own son. Siroes, the eldest of his sons, having revolted, and secured the kingdom, slew all his brothers in his father's presence, cast the latter into a prison, where he caused him to expire in insufferable torture, by being incessantly pricked with the points of arrows.

Soon after the expiration of the present period, Persia was invaded by the Saracens, and it was not long before it became a part of the empire of the Caliphs.

CHINA.

17. In the history of CHINA during this period, we find four dynasties of its emperors, from the 9th to the 12th inclusive. They were of short continuance, and included the reigns of seventeen sovereigns. Several of these appear to have been wise and virtuous men. In the reign of Yang-ti, in 605, many canals were cut through the empire, by which several rivers were united, and great facility given to com

merce.

§ One of the sovereigns of the twelfth dynasty, is said to have had a very solid, penetrating mind. He loved his people, and did every

thing in his power to promote their happiness. He built public granaries, which were every year filled with rice and corn, by the opulent, to be distributed among the poor in times of scarcity. He improved their music and eloquence. Against corrupt judges, he was always inexorable; and excluded from all public employments, those whose rank in life did not render them respectable.

SPAIN.

Before the Empire of the West was finally subverted by the Northern Barbarians, some of the nations which once constituted it, had been lost to the empire. This was the case, particularly, with Spain and Britain.__Italy, the seat of the empire, and according to the best accounts, France, may date their separate existence, only from the annihilation of the Roman power. After that event, these several nations, and indeed all the rest of western Europe, were detached from one another, and held by the native inhabitants, or governed by different tribes of the barbarians of the north. We must therefore consider them in their separate sovereignties, according to the eras in which they began to exist independently. We begin with Spain.

18. SPAIN, while constituting a portion of the Roman empire, was invaded by the Suevi, the Alains, and the Vandals, about 406 years A. C., and mostly subdued by these barbarous tribes. Expelling the Romans, they divided the country, a part of which, viz. Vandalasia, or Andalusia, still bears the name of one of these tribes, (the Vandals.)

The Alains, in 418, were mostly exterminated by the Ostrogoths. The Suevi remained in the possession of the country, under a succession of their kings, till the year 585. The Vandals had early, viz. in 427, passed into Africa, and settled there, upon the invitation of Count Boniface.

The Visogoths, who entered Spain in 531, conquered the greatest part of the country by the year 585, and erected a monarchy, which existed till 712, when they were subdued by the Saracens, or Moors.

§ Spain was anciently called Hesperia or Western, on account of its situation, as being the extreme west known to the ancients. It was called also Iberia, from the river Iber, now the Ebro. The name Hispania, or Spain, is said to be derived from a Phœnician word, Sphavisa, which means, abounding with rabbits; these animals, according to Strabo, being very numerous in Spain.

Its original inhabitants were Celtes, of the same race with those of France, and who passed over from that country into Spain. The fertility of the soil, induced the Phoenicians, who were the earliest navigators, to open a trade with Spain, and they built the city of Gades, now Cadiz. This was about 900 years B. C.

This country has been often conquered, both in ancient and more modern times. About 500 years B. C., it was in part subjugated by the Carthaginians, who held their conquest three centurics. The Romans then succeeded as masters, in whose power it remained six hundred years. From the Romans, as we have already learned, it was wrested by the northern barbarians. These, as we shall see, in the next Period, are destined to be displaced by the followers of Mahomet.

It is deemed unnecessary to detail any events under the kings of the barbarous tribes who governed Spain, as they possess scarcely any interest. Euric may he considered as the founder of the Gothic monarchy of this country.

FRANCE.

19. FRANCE, anciently called Gaul, immediately previous to the dissolution of the Roman Empire of the West, was drvided between the Romans, Visogoths, Franks, and Burgundians. A few years after that event, viz. 581 A. C., Clovis. king of the Franks, obtained, by degrees, possession of the country. He is therefore considered the true founder of the French monarchy, as before him, the Franks held only a few provinces on the right bank of the Rhine. From this people, ancient Gaul, obtained the name of France. The kings who have reigned in France, seem to be divided into four dynasties, viz. the Merovingian, the Carlovingian, the Capetian, and the Bourbon. The race of which we are now speaking, the first in order, derived its name from Merovous, the grandfather of Clovis, who reigned over that portion of the Franks, who had obtained, in some former age, a settlement in the country. The Merovingian dynasty continued till 752.

§ The Franks were supposed to have been of German origin, and to have inhabited the country between the Rhine and the Weser, which now forms part of Holland and Westphalia. Some believe them to have consisted of a mixed multitude of various tribes, living beyond the Rhine, who, when Germany was invaded by the Romans, united in defence of their common liberty, and styled themselves Franks, 1. e. free men. Of the clans into which they were divided, the Salii, and Ansuarii, were the most considerable. Between the years 234 and 254, they made an irruption into Gaul, but were signally overthrown by the Romans under Aurelian, then a military tribune. They finally obtained a footing in that country, about the year 264 A. C.

Succeeding this event, they had many contentions with the Romans, in which they often conquered, and were, oftener, perhaps, defeated. By the time, however, in which the emperor Constans reigned, they were generally at peace with the Romans, and several of them en