(MAURICIUS. Phocas was of base extraction, and a native of Cappadocia. For some time he
was groom to the celebrated general Priscus, and at the time of his accession he held the
humble office of a centurion. His brutal courage had gained him a name among the common
soldiers, and among those of his companions who liked warfare as the art of butchering
mankind. His coronation took place on the 23d of November 602; his wife Leontia was likewise
crowned. After he had momentarily quenched his thirst for revenge and murder in the blood of
Mauricius, of his five sons, and of his most eminent adherents, such as Constantine Lardys,
Comentiolus and others, he bought an ignoble peace from the Avars, but was prevented from
enjoying it by a fierce attack of the Persian king Chosroes. This prince considered the
accession of a despicable murderer to the Byzantine throne as a fair opportunity of avenging
himself for the many defeats he had suffered from Mallritius; and he was still more urged to
take up arms by Narses, a faithful adherent of the late emperor, and then commanderin-chief on
the Persian frontier. Anxious to escape the fite of so many of his friends, Narses made
overtures to Chosrocs, left the head-quarters of his army, and remained in a sort of neutral
position at Hierapolis. Thus a war broke out with Persia which lasted twenty-four years, the
first eighteen of which presented an uninterrupted series of misfortunes to the Romans, and
which was decidedly the most disastrous that was ever carried on between the two empires. Asia
Minor from the Euphrates to the very shores of the Bosporus was laid waste by the Persians; a
great number of its populous and fllorishing cities was laid in ashes; and hundreds of
thousands of its inhabitants were carried off into slavery beyond the Tigris. But for this war
Asia Minor would have better withstood the attacks of the Arabs, who some years later achieved
what the Persians had begun. Afraid to lose his crown if he absented himself from
Constantinople, and feeling, as it seems, the inferiority of his military capacities, Phocas
remained in his capital to enjoy executions and beastly pleasures, while the eunuch Leontiau
started for the theatre of the war with a motley army composed of the most incongruous
elements, He thus encountered the Persian veterans commanded by their king Chosroes, the
greatest man of the East. At Dara the eunuch was utterly defeated. His successor Domentiolus,
the emperor's brother, was not able to stop the progress of the enemy, and from the Black Sea
to the confines of Egypt the Persians ravaged the country. During this time Domentiolus
entered into negotiations with Narses with a view of reconciling hint with the emperor.
Beguiled by the brilliant promises of Domentiolus, Narses imprudently left his stronghold, and
finally proceeded to Constantinople. While he hoped to be placed again at the head of the
Roman armies, he was suddenly arrested, and without further inquiries condemned to death. He
was burnt alive. Thus perished the worthy namesake of the great Narses, with whom he has often
been confounded, although the one was a centenarian when the other first tried his sword
against the Persians. This Narses was so much feared by the Persians that mothers used to
frighten their children with his name. His murder increased the unpopularity of the emperor.
Germanus, the father-in-law of the unfortunate Theodosius, the eldest son of Mauricius, who
had once had a chance of obtaining the crown, now persuaded the captive empress Constantina to
form a plot against the life of the tyrant. She consented, being under the impression that her
son Theodosius was still alive, and accompanied by one Scholasticus, who seems to have been
the scape-goat in this affair, she left her dwelling, together with her three daughters, and
followed him to the church of St. Sophia. At her aspect the people were moved with pity. They
took up arms, and a terrible riot ensued. But for the bad will of John, the leader of the
Greens, who paid for his conduct by being burnt alive by the mob, the outbreak would have been
crowned with success. As it was, however, Phocas had the upper hand. The riot was quelled;
Scholasticus was put to death; and Germnanus was forced to take the monastic habit : he had
managed things so cleverly that no evidence could be produced against him : else he would have
paid for the plot with his life. The empress Constantine found a protector in the person of
the patriarch Cyriacus, and her life was spared; but she was confined in a monastery with her
three daughters. The general hatred against Phocas, however, was so great that Constantina
braved the dangers of another conspiracy which broke out in 607, and in which she interested
several of the principal personages of the empire : she still believed that her son
Constantine was alive. A woman contrived this plot, and a woman frustrated it. This was
Petronea who, being in the entire confidence of the empress, was employed by her as a
messenger between the different parties, and who sold the secret to Phocas as soon as she had
gathered sufficient evidence against its leaders. The tyrant quelled the plot by bloody, but
decisive measures. Constantina and her three daughters had their heads cut off at Chalcedon,
on the same spot where her husband and her five sons had suffered death. Among those of her
chief adherents who paid for their rashness with their lives were Georgius, governor of
Cappadocia; Romanis, advocates curiae; Theodorus praefectus Orientis; Joannes, primus e HERACLIUS. On the third of October, 610, Constantinople was in the
hands of Heraclius, after a sharp contest with the mercenaries of Phocas, who spent the
ensuing night in a fortified palace, which was defended by a strong body. The guard fled
during the night. Early in the morning the senator Photins approached it with a small band,
and finding the place unguarded, entered and seized upon Phocas, whom they put into a boat and
paraded through the fleet. He was then brought before Heraclius on board the imperial galley.
Heraclus, forgetting his dignity, felled the captive monster to the ground, trampled upon him
with his feet, and charged him with his abominable government. "Wilt thou govern better," was
the insolent answer of the fallen tyrant. After suffering many tortures and insults, Phocas
had his head struck off. His body was dragged through the streets, and afterwards burned,
together with that of Domentiolus, who had fallen in the battle. Phocas, the most
blood-thirsty tyrant that ever disgraced the throne of Constantinople, was as ugly in body as
monstrous in mind. He was short, beardless, with red hair, shaggy eyebrows; and a great scar
disfigured his face all the more, as it became black when his passions were roused. Heraclius
was crowned immediately after the death of his rival. (Theoph. p. 244, &c.; Cedren. p.
399, &c.; Chron. Pasch. p. 379-383; Zonar. vol. ii. p. 77, &c. in the Paris ed.;
Simocatta, 8.100.7, &c.)