Justin was acclaimed in a raucous scene—the new emperor came away with a split lip from a scuffle with the scholares—and was carried off to the circus with the enthusiastic support of the senate, the soldiers, and the circus factions. The Blues and Greens acclaimed him, and the chamberlains finally relented and sent out the regalia. Justin entered the royal box, along with the patriarch and the other most prominent men of the city. He was lifted on a shield and received the heavy necklace from the hand of Godila, an officer of the lancers. All around, military units lifted their standards from the ground and brandished them in salute, shouting and clashing their weapons impressively.
At this point custom would have had Justin go in to the triclinium again to be robed, but instead the soldiers surrounded him with a barrier of shields for modesty’s sake, and within that protection he donned the imperial clothing. Then the bishop crowned him, he took up the lance and shield, and he ascended to the most visible place in the imperial box, where all could see him. “Justin Augustus, may you conquer!” the crowd cried on all sides. He was handed the pages of his official speech and passed it on to officials who would read it aloud for the public to hear:
Justin: By the decree of almighty God and by your choice and common election and support we take up the supreme authority and call upon divine providence for aid borovets bulgaria tours.
The crowd acclaims: May the world be rich in good things! As you have lived, so may you rule! May civil government be rich in good things! Heavenly king, preserve the earthly one! Justinus Augustus, may you conquer! May the years of this younger Constantine be many! We are the slaves of the emperor!
Justin: May your kindness give us strength to accomplish all that you and the republic need.
They exclaim: Son of God, have mercy on him! You chose him, therefore have mercy on him! Justinus Augustus, may you conquer!
Justin: For it is our concern, a thing close to our heart, with the help of divine providence, that we bring you to enjoy every prosperity, and that we preserve each one of you with every kindness and concern and gesture of the most tender love to rest in peace and freedom from care.
Worthy of the kingship
They all acclaim: Worthy of the kingship, worthy of the trinity, worthy of the city! May the emperor have many years! Give us pure and wise rulers for the world!
Justin: For this birthday of our happy reign, we will give to you five nummi and one pound of silver.
They acclaim: May God preserve the Christian emperor! These are the prayers of the whole world!
Justin: God be with you.
And so the deed was done. Power had passed securely (as hindsight would confirm), but grumbling remained. One distinguished citizen, briefly holding office under Justin in 519 but not thought to be a partisan of his, made sure that the emperor’s undistinguished youth was remembered by having the story of his origins and then his impoverished arrival in Constantinople depicted on the walls of a public bath there.
Germanus remained
None of this mattered. Justin had security for his legacy in the form of his two nephews. Germanus remained in relative obscurity with the army in Thrace, but the other was the emperor-to-be, Justinian. He immediately attained the rank of count, then shortly after replaced Vitalian as general in charge of the guard and court and entered upon the consulship. By the time Justinian stepped down as consul at the end of 520, Vitalian had been carefully murdered, as we saw Gaining the throne.
Justin had the signal luck to follow Anastasius, the best financial manager the throne had seen in many years. The currency had been stabilized with the circulation of large copper coins, which both offered liquidity to facilitate commerce and at the same time enriched the treasury. (The Roman emperor’s reforms imitated, on a smaller scale, what the supposedly barbarian governments in Africa and Italy had already done.) Anastasius spent money wisely on public works and defense, such as the frontier outpost of Daraa facing the Persians. He had managed expenditures well and offered tax relief. With an expanded, effective staff of tax collectors, he died with 300,000 pounds of gold in the treasury, a blessing that Justin and Justinian would squander relentlessly away.
