1 Lydus, Ioannes, On Powers or The Magistracies of the Roman State, ed. and tr. Bandy, A.C. (Philadelphia 1983)Google Scholar. Lydos’ other two extant works offer little direct insight into his political thought, though On the Months will occasionally be cited: loannis Laurentii Lydi Liber de mensibus, ed. Wuensch, R. (Leipzig 1898)Google Scholar. There are three studies: Carney, T.F., Bureaucracy in Traditional Society: Romano-Byzantine Bureaucracies Viewed from Within (Lawrence, KS 1971)Google Scholar; Caimi, J., Burocrazia e diritto nel De magistratibus di Giovanni Lido (Milan 1984)Google Scholar; and Maas, M., John Lydus and the Roman Past: Antiquarianism and Politics in the Age of Justinian (London and New York 1992)Google Scholar. Only Maas discusses Lydos’ cultural context.

2 Dvornik, F., Early Christian and Byzantine Political Philosophy: Origins and Background, 2 vols (Washington, DC 1966) c. 5, 8Google Scholar. For one emperor as a citizen chosen for his virtue, see Plinius, Panegyric to Trajan 1.Z-A.

3 Chrysos, E.K., ‘The Title BASILEUS in Early Byzantine International Relations,’ DOP 32 (1978) 31–75Google Scholar, here 69: Lydos ‘presents Justinian's regime as a sort of enlightened kingship’. Also Carney, Bureaucracy in Traditional Society, pt. 2, 82; Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past, 85; and Pazdernik, C.F., A Dangerous Liberty and a Servitude Free from Care: Political ‘Eleutheria’ and ‘Douleia’ in Procopius of Caesarea and Thucydides of Athens, unpub. diss. (Princeton University 1997) 218Google Scholar: ‘lawful’ kingship refers to the emperors.

4 Synesios, , On Kingship 6, ed. Terzaghi, N., Synesii Cyrenensis Hymni et Opuscula (Rome 1944) 15Google Scholar. For the context, see Cameron, Al. and Long, J., Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius (Berkeley 1993) c. 4Google Scholar.

5 E.g., Lydos knows that technically Caesar was a higher rank than basileus, since the former could appoint the latter (1.6; cf. also 2.2). And since an ennomos basileus has to be ‘elected by his own subjects’ (1.3), foreign basileis appointed by an emperor were not ennomoi. Basileia can also mean ‘empire’ in a territorial sense (1.3, 2.2).

6 Matthews, Cf. J., The Roman Empire of Ammianus (London 1989) 245Google Scholar, for a discussion of the fourth-century debate (citing previous bibliography). Lydos had linked Diocletian to Domitian through their use of the title despotes and attire in On the Months 1.26 (citing Eutropius 9.26). For Domitian as a typical tyrant in On the Magistracies, see below.

7 Syme, R., The Roman Revolution (Oxford and New York 1939) 313–14Google Scholar; for Roman views of Romulus, 520; also Gabba, E., Dionysius and the History of Archaic Rome (Berkeley 1991) 161–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar, citing previous bibliography. Cf. On the Months 4.111.

8 Lydos tends to equate basileia with tyranny in On the Months 4.29.

9 Lydos knows and rejects alternative etymologies. This one, along with others he proposes, are found in Servius: Ando, C., ‘The Palladium and the Pentateuch: Towards a Sacred Topography of the Later Roman Empire,’ Phoenix 55 (2001) 369–410CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 402 n. 202; Rochette, B., ‘Jean le Lydien, Caton, Varron et Servius (Jean le Lydien, De magistratibus, I, 5),’ BZ 91 (1998) 471–474Google Scholar. Lydos links Quirinus to Romulus in On the Months 4.111.

10 Lydos is not sure which. Both disliked the title: Suetonius, Augustus 53; Tiberius 27. The episode is also recounted in On the Months 4.112 in a more favourable context.

11 E.g., Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past, 94; but cf. Caimi, Burocrazia e diritto, 241–2.

12 See Kaldellis, A., ‘Identifying dissident circles in sixth-century Byzantium: The friendship of Prokopios and Ioannes Lydos,’ Plorilegium 21 (2004) 1–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity (Philadelphia 2004) App. 1.

13 Strauss, Cf. L., Thoughts on Machiavelli (Glencoe, IL 1958) 25–6Google Scholar.

14 For that event see also Prokopios, Wars 4.9; and McCormick, M., Eternal Victory: Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early Medieval West (Cambridge and Paris 1986) 125–9Google Scholar.

15 In light of what follows, dêthen should not be rendered ‘manifestly’ (Bandy) or even ‘presumably’ (Carney). ‘Divine’ may allude to ‘divi filius.’ For ‘deus,’ see, e.g., Virgil, Eclogues 1.6. In his earliest surviving work Lydos had given Augustus a better press: On the Months 4.111–12.

16 Machiavelli, , Discourses on Livy 1.37.2, tr. Mansfield, N.C. and Tarcov, N. (Chicago 1996) 47–8, 238–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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18 Syme, , The Roman Revolution, 106, 2Google Scholar; Rudich, cf. V., Political Dissidence under Nero: The Price of Dissimulation (London and New York 1993) xivGoogle Scholar: ‘Despite a pretense of legality, theirs [sc. the Julio-Claudians] was not a rule of law'.

19 For Domitian as tyrant, see also On the Months 1.26 (linked to Diocletian) and 4.20.

20 Irmscher, J., ‘Justinianbild und Justiniankritik in frühen Byzanz,’ in Köpstein, H. and Winkelmann, F. ed., Studien zum 7. Jahrhundert in Byzanz (Berlin 1976) 131–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 134–5; and Caimi, J., ‘Ioannis Lydo de magistratibus III 70. Note esegetiche e spunti in tema di fiscalità e legislazione protobizantine,’ Rivista di studi bizantini e slavi 1 (1981) 317–61Google Scholar, passim, esp. 349 ff.

21 Novel 22, preface, tr. S.P. Scott, The Civil Law, v. 16 (Cincinnati 1932) 110: ‘A great number of different laws have been promulgated by us with reference to every branch of legislation; but as many of them appear to us to be imperfect, we desire to open a way to our subjects for better things. … We should not blush to amend laws which we have published.'

22 Honoré, T., Tribonian (Ithaca, NY 1978) 54Google Scholar.

23 Prokopios, Secret History 26.12–15. For the emperor's point of view, see Novel 105.

24 Novel 47; see Moorhead, J., Justinian (London and New York 1994) 60–2Google Scholar.

25 Kaldellis, Procopius of Caesarea, 150–153, 226, and ‘Identifying Dissident Circles.’

26 Maas, , John Lydus and the Roman Past, 119–137Google Scholar.

27 Sallustius, Histories 1.55.5; cf. Dionysios of Halikarnassos, Roman Antiquities 5.77.4.

28 Plutarch, , Pompeius 25Google Scholar.

29 Appian, The Civil Wars 4.4.

30 Tacitus, The Histories 2.38.

31 Gabba, Cf., Dionysius, 155–6Google Scholar.

32 Dionysios of Halikarnassos, Roman Antiquities 4.71 ff.; cf. 5.77.3: basileia is parallel to tyrannis. The possibility that monarchy may lapse into tyranny is raised again by Manius Valerius in 7.55. For Dionysios’ silence, see Gabba, Dionysius, 212, though it has also been suggested that he wanted to glorify Augustus indirectly: see the studies cited by Edlund, I.E. M., ‘Dionysios of Halikarnassos: Liberty and Democracy in Rome,’ The Classical Bulletin 53 (1976) 27–31Google Scholar, here 31 n. 7–8.

33 Kassios Dion, History 52.13.

34 Suetonius, Claudius 41.

35 Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past, 7, 36–7.

36 Caimi, Burocrazia e diritto, 134 n. 146. Caimi too is more interested in the prefecture (c. 3).

37 Maas, , John Lydus and the Roman Past, 118, 18, also 115Google Scholar.

38 Chrysos, ‘The Title BASILEUS,’ 68.

39 Freedom: e.g., On the Magistracies 1.6, 1.29, 1.33, 2.8 (twice), 3.11; emperor: see Pazdernik, A Dangerous Liberty, passim.

40 See Browning, R., ‘Greeks and Others: From Antiquity to the Renaissance,’ in Harrison, T. ed., Greeks and Barbarians (New York 2002) 257–77Google Scholar, here 265.

41 Augustine, , Confessions 6.6.9, tr. Chadwick, H. (Oxford and New York 1991)Google Scholar. For additional examples, see Kaldellis, , Procopius of Caesarea, c. 1, and The Argument of Psellos’ Chronographia (Leiden and Boston 1999) 136–7 n. 285Google Scholar.

42 Rhetor, Menandros, The Imperial Oration 371.10–14, ed. and tr. Russell, D.A. and Wilson, N.G., Menander Rhetor (Oxford 1981) 80–3Google Scholar.

43 In general, see Ahl, F., ‘The Art of Safe Criticism in Greece and Rome,’ AJP 105 (1984) 174–208Google Scholar, here 188 (including Greek sources); also Drake, H.A., Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance (Baltimore 2000) 67–9, 175, 370CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Countless examples can be cited.

44 For examples, see Sabbah, G., ‘De la rhétorique à la communication politique: les Panégyriques latins,’ Bulletin de l'Association Guillame Budé 1984, 363–88Google Scholar, here 379–80; Van Dam, R., Kingdom of Snow: Roman Rule and Greek Culture in Cappadocia (Philadelphia 2002) 144–6.Google Scholar Cf. Plutarch, How to Know a Flatterer 18 (=Moralia 60d-e): they fault for the opposite vices of those owned by their subjects; and idem (?), On the Malice of Herodotos 9 (= Moralia 856d): how mild praise makes invective seem convincing, while mild criticism does the same to flattery.

45 Another correspondence exists between On the Magistracies 2.7 and 2.29, 3.41.

46 Stein, E., Histoire du Bas-Empire, vol. 2: De la disparition de I'empire d'occident à la mort de Justinien (476–565) (Paris 1949) 733Google Scholar.

47 Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past, 6, 28, 67–8, 94, 108; Cameron, cf. Av., Procopius and the Sixth Century (London and New York 1996) 243–5, 253Google Scholar.

48 Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past, 78, 117. On one occasion Maas compares Justinian to the definition of tyranny in On the Magistracies 1.3 and finds that Lydos ‘to some degree felt Justinian had acted as a tyrant in his failure to restore the prefecture properly’ (96). But far more was at stake than the prefecture.

49 Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past, 7.

50 Maas, , John Lydus and the Roman Past, 6, 114Google Scholar; for Lydos’ ‘conundrums,’ ‘awkward’ and ‘strained’ solutions, etc., see also Pazdernik, , A Dangerous Liberty, 216–22, 227–8Google Scholar (an otherwise insightful treatment); Cameron, cf., Procopius and the Sixth Century, 246–7Google Scholar: he accepted Christian monarchy. Maas proposes a more promising alternative elsewhere, but fails to pursue it: ‘prudence, perhaps genuine confusion’ (Maas, , John Lydus and the Roman Past, 96Google Scholar).

51 Priskos, fr. 11.2, lines 407 ff., ed. and tr. Blockley, R.C., The fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, 2 vols (Liverpool 1981–83)Google Scholar; see v. 1, 57–59, for Blockley's suggestion that ‘the speech… acts as a vehicle for Priscus to attack current abuses'.

52 Zosimos, The New History 1.5, tr. Buchanan, J.J. and Davis, H.T., Zosimus: Historia Nova, The Decline of Rome (San Antonio 1967) 4Google Scholar. Cf. F. Paschoud, ‘La digression antimonarchique de préambule de l'Histoire Nouvelle,’ in idem, Cinq études sur Zosime (Paris 1975) 1–23; and Ruggini, L.C., ‘The Ecclesiastical Histories and the Pagan Historiography: Providence and Miracles,’ Athenaeum 55 (1977) 107–26Google Scholar, here 118–22. Both scholars present too monolithic a view of political thought under the Principate.

53 Kaldellis, A., ‘The Religion of Ioannes Lydos,’ Phoenix 57 (2003) 300–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

54 Magdalino, P., The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143–1180 (Cambridge 1993) 404–05CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Theoretical opposition to monarchy can even be found in the Old Testament: 1 Samuel 8.

55 Prokopios, Secret History 11.23.

56 Kaegi, W.E., ‘Arianism and the Byzantine Army in Africa 533–46,’ Traditio 21 (1965) 23–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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58 Monophysites: Moorhead, Justinian, 129; Guillaumont, A., ‘Justinien et l'église de Perse,’ DOP 23–24 (1969–70) 39–66Google Scholar, here 57–8. Hell: Euagrios Scholastikos, Ecclesiastical History 5.1, also 4.41, 4.30, 4.32, ed. J. Bidez and L. Parmentier, The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius (London 1898). Diocletian: Book of Pontiffs 59 (pope Agapetus).

59 For a summary, see Bury, J.B., History of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 2 (London 1923) 366–72Google Scholar; for Phokas, Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past, 78–82.

60 The main source is Agathias, Histories 2.30–1, ed. Keydell, R., Agathiae Myrinaei Historiarum Libri Quinque (Berlin 1967)Google Scholar; the most important discussion by Cameron, Al., ‘The Last Days of the Academy at Athens,’ Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 195 (1969) 14–30Google Scholar; see also Kaldellis, A., ‘The Historical and Religious Views of Agathias: A Reinterpretation,’ Byzantion 69 (1999) 206–52Google Scholar, here 240–2.

61 Simplicius, Commentaire sur le Manuel d'Èpictète, 14.20–32 and epilogue, ed. I. Hadot (Leiden and New York 1996).

62 Menae patricii cum Thoma referendario de scientia politica dialogus, ed. C.M. Mazzucchi (Milan 1982); see Fotiou, A. S., ‘Dicaearchus and the Mixed Constitution in Sixth-Century Byzantium: New Evidence from a Treatise on “Political Science”’, Byzantion 51 (1981) 533–47Google Scholar; and O'Meara, D., ‘The Justinianic Dialogue On Political Science and its Neoplatonic Sources,’ in Ierodiakonou, K. ed., Byzantine Philosophy and its Ancient Sources (Oxford 2002) 49–62Google Scholar.