Note 023
A general idea of the pride and power of the
chagan may be taken from Menander (Excerpt. Legat. p. 118,
&c.) and Theophylact, (l. i. c. 3, l. vii. c. 15,) whose
eight books are much more honorable to the Avar than to the
Roman prince. The predecessors of Baian had tasted the
liberality of Rome, and he survived the reign of Maurice,
(Buat, Hist. des Peuples Barbares, tom. xi. p. 545.) The
chagan who invaded Italy, A.D. 611, (Muratori, Annali, tom.
v. p. 305,) was then invenili aetate florentem, (Paul
Warnefrid, de Gest. Langobard. l v c 38,) the son, perhaps,
or the grandson, of Baian.
The History Of The Decline And
Fall Of The Roman Empire
—Fall In The East
—Chapter 46