JUSTINUS IL, nephew of Justinian I., by his mother Vigilanlia, was raised to the throne by the senators and the guards immediately after the death of his uncle, on the 15th of November 565. Soon after complaints reached Constantinople from the Romans a,gaiust Nurses the conqueror of the Goths, and exarch of Ravenna, whose great qualities were stained with avarice, and whose government had become unpopular in Italy. A new exareh, Longinus, was appointed to supersede Narses, and the empress Sophia, Justin's consort, added to the letters of real the insulting message, that the eunuch Narses should leave to men the exercise of arms dignities of the state, and return to his proper place among the maidens of the palace, where a distaff should be placed in his hand. To this insult Narses is said to have replied, "I will spin her such a thread as she will not easily unravel ; " and he is said to have invited the Lougobards, and their king Alboin, to invade Italy. However this may be, Alboin invaded
Italy by the Julian Alps in 563, and in a few years all North Italy was beet to the Byzantine emperor. The provinces of Asia were likewise overrun by the Persians. Internal discontent prevailed in the capital and provinces, owing to the malversations of the governors and magis trates, and Justin himself, deprived by infirmity of the use of his feet, and confined to the palace, was not able to repress abuses and infuse vigour into the administration. -Feeling at last his impotence, he resolved on abdicating the crown, and as he had no son, he chose Tiberius, the captain of his guards, as his successor. The conduct of Tiberius fully justified Justin's discernment. Justin lived four years after his abdication in quiet retirement, and died in the year 578.