Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

tiberius 97
despatched in 575, but he was severely defeated and killed. This encouraged
the Lombards to further expansion, in spite of their lack of an overall
leader, and in 578 Faroald, duke of Spoleto, even captured Classis,
Ravenna’s port, and besieged Rome. An embassy from the Roman senate,
led by the patrician Pamphronius, begged for practical help and presented
3,000 pounds of gold, perhaps the senate’s traditional coronation offering
to a new ruler. But Tiberius had no troops to spare; he returned the money
and advised that it be used to purchase support from Lombard leaders or
secure alliances with the Franks.
The orthodox Franks of Austrasia were incited to oppose the Arian
Lombards, and the new pope, Pelagius II, who had been consecrated
during the Lombard pressure on Rome, wrote to the bishop of Auxerre to
urge him to persuade the Burgundians to assist. Guntram of Burgundy,
however, was already allied with the Lombards, and the first goal of Roman
diplomacy now became an alliance of Austrasia and Neustria against the
uncooperative Guntram. Tiberius sent gold, and the size and decoration of
his coins or medallions are said by Gregory of Tours to have impressed the
Gallic nobility. Pelagius also renewed appeals to Constantinople for help,
but without success. The problems of controlling the remaining Roman
territories in the west may have prompted Tiberius to initiate significant
administrative reforms: an exarch, a local commander who combined civilian
and military authority, is first attested in Italy in 584, and in Africa in
591, but greater local independence in the production of gold coin in
Africa and Sicily between 581 and 583 suggests that fiscal and administrative
reform was already under way. 24
In the Balkans the Roman position deteriorated significantly under
Tiberius: troops had probably been removed for service with Baduarius in
Italy as well as for the east, and numerous recruits were siphoned off for
eastern service after the disasters of 573. The empire could only afford a
major war in one area at a time, and the east took priority. Initially the Avars
were quiet, content with an annual payment of 80,000 solidi, and the main
threat was posed by the various Slav tribes who crossed the lower Danube
to ravage Thrace and other regions. But once the Avars appreciated the full
extent of Roman weakness, they quickly exploited this by renewing their
attempts on Sirmium, which dominated the Balkans during Tiberius’ sole
rule, since possession of the city would provide a foothold south of the
Sava and so facilitate attacks on Roman territory. The Avars, exploiting the
technical expertise of some Roman engineers, isolated Sirmium by building
bridges over the Sava both upstream and downstream, to cut it off from
relief by water, though in negotiations the Chagan asserted his loyalty,
saying that Slavs rather than Romans were his intended target. In spite of
24 Menander fr. 22; Greg.Tur.Hist. vi.2; Goffart (1957); Brown, Gentlemen and Officers 49–53.
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