john of cappadocia replaced by theodotus, and theodotus by peter barsyames, the syrian, an old usurer—his greed—he suppresses the gratuities to the soldiers—traffic in every kind of employment—speculation in wheat—scarcity of provisions at byzantium—discontent—barsyames upheld by theodora and his own sorceries—his connection with the manicheans—their influence over justinian—barsyames supersedes john of palestine as treasury minister—he abolishes the assistance rendered to the unfortunate.
after the emperor and empress had destroyed john of cappadocia, they were desirous of appointing someone else to his office, and agreed to search for a man even more vicious than he. they looked around to find this instrument of tyranny, and examined the dispositions of all, in order that they might the more speedily be able to ruin their subjects. they temporarily conferred the office upon theodotus, who, though certainly not an honourable man, was not sufficiently wicked to satisfy them. they continued their search in all directions, and at last by accident found a banker named peter, a syrian by birth, surnamed barsyames. he had long sat at the copper money-changer’s counter, and had amassed large sums by his disgraceful malpractices. he was exceedingly cunning at thieving obols, ever deceiving his customers by the quickness of his fingers. he was very clever at filching without ado what fell into his hands, and, when detected, he swore that it was the fault of his hands, and made use of most impudent language in order to conceal his guilt.
this barsyames, having been enrolled in the praetorian guard, behaved so outrageously that he approved himself beyond all others to theodora, and was selected by her to assist in carrying out those of her nefarious schemes which required the most inventive genius. for this reason justinian and theodora immediately deprived theodotus of the dignity bestowed upon him as the successor of the cappadocian, and appointed peter in his stead, who in every respect acted in accordance with their wishes.
he not only, without the least fear or shame, cheated the soldiers of their pay, but offered commands and offices for sale to a greater extent than before. having thus degraded them, he sold them to persons who were not ashamed to engage in this unholy traffic, giving express permission to the purchasers to deal as they pleased with the lives and properties of those who were subject to their authority; for barsyames claimed for himself and granted to anyone who had paid down the price of a province the right of plundering and ravaging it at pleasure. it was from the chief of the state that this traffic in lives proceeded, and agreements were entered into for the ruin of the cities. in the chief courts and in the public market-place the legalised brigand went round about, who was called “collector” from his duty of collecting the money paid for the purchase of dignities, which they exacted from the oppressed, who had no hope of redress. of all those who were promoted to his service, although several were men of repute, barsyames always preferred such as were of depraved character.
he was not the only offender in this respect; all his predecessors and successors were equally guilty. the “master of offices” did the same, likewise the officials of the imperial treasury, and those who had the duty of superintending the emperor’s private and personal estate—in a word, all who held public appointments in byzantium and other cities. in fact, from the time that this tyrant had the management of affairs, either he or his minister claimed the subsidies suitable to each office, and those who served their superiors, suffering extreme poverty, were compelled to submit to be treated as if they were the most worthless slaves.
the greater part of the corn that had been imported to byzantium was kept until it rotted; but, although it was not fit for human consumption, he forced the cities of the east to purchase it in proportion to their importance, and he demanded payment, not at the price paid even for the best corn, but at a far higher rate; and the poor people, who had been forced to purchase it at an outrageously heavy price, were compelled to throw it into the sea or the drains.
that which was sound and not yet spoilt, of which there was great abundance in the capital, the emperor determined to sell to those cities which were scantily supplied. in this manner he realised twice the amount that had formerly been obtained by the receivers of the public tribute in the provinces. the next year the supply of corn was not so abundant, and the transports did not bring a sufficient quantity to supply the needs of the capital. peter, disconcerted at the state of affairs, conceived the idea of buying up a great quantity of corn from bithynia, phrygia and thrace. the inhabitants of those provinces were forced to bring it down to the coasts themselves (a work of great labour), and to convey it at considerable risk to byzantium, where they had to be satisfied with an absurdly low price. their losses were so considerable, that they would have preferred to have given the corn gratuitously to the public granaries, and even to have paid twice as much. this burdensome duty was called syn=on=e, or provisioning the capital with corn from the provinces. but, as even then the supply of corn was not sufficient for the needs of the city, many complaints were made to the emperor. at the same time the soldiers, hardly any of whom had as yet received their pay, assembled and created a great disturbance in the city. the emperor appeared greatly irritated against peter, and resolved to deprive him of his office, both for the reasons stated and also because it was reported to him that he had amassed extraordinary wealth, which he kept hidden away, by robbing the public treasury; and this in fact was the case. but theodora opposed her husband’s intention, being exceedingly enamoured of barsyames, apparently on account of his evil character and the remarkable cruelty with which he treated his subjects; for, being herself exceedingly cruel and utterly inhuman, she was anxious that the character of her agents should be in conformity with her own. it is also said that theodora, against her will, had been forced by the enchantments of barsyames to become his friend; for this man had devoted great attention to sorcerers and supernatural beings, admired the manichaeans, and was not ashamed openly to profess himself their supporter. although the empress was not ignorant of this, she did not withdraw her favour, but resolved on this account to show even greater interest and regard for him than before, for she herself also, from her earliest years, had associated with sorcerers and magicians, since her character and pursuits inclined her towards them. she had great faith in their arts, and placed the greatest confidence in them. it is even said that she did not render justinian susceptible to her influence so much by her flatteries as by the irresistible power of evil spirits; for justinian was not sufficiently kindly, or just, or persistent in well-doing to be superior to such secret influence, but was manifestly dominated by a thirst for blood and riches, and fell an easy prey to those who deceived and flattered him. in undertakings which needed the greatest attention, he changed his plans without any reason and showed himself as light as the dust swept before the wind. thus none of his kinsmen or friends had the least confidence in his stability, but, in the execution of his purpose, his opinion perpetually changed with the greatest rapidity. being, as i have said, an easy object of attack for the sorcerers, he in like manner readily fell a victim to theodora, who, for this reason, entertained the highest affection for peter as one devoted to the study of these arts.
the emperor only succeeded with great difficulty in depriving him of his office, and, at the pressing entreaty of theodora, soon afterwards appointed him chief of the treasury, and deprived john of these functions, although he had only been invested with them a few months previously. this john was a native of palestine, a good and gentle man, who did not even know how to find out the means of increasing his private fortune, and had never done injury to a single individual. the more decided the affection of the people for him, the less he met with the approval of justinian and his partner, who, as soon as they found amongst their agents, contrary to expectation, a good and honourable man, were quite dumbfounded, showed their indignation, and endeavoured by every possible means to get rid of him with the least delay. thus peter succeeded john as chief of the royal treasury, and was one of the chief causes of great misery to all the inhabitants of the empire. he embezzled the greater part of the fund, which, in accordance with an ancient custom, was annually distributed by the emperor to a number of families by way of assisting them. part of this public money he sent to the emperor, and kept part for himself, whereby he acquired ill-gotten wealth. those who were thus deprived of this money lived in a pitiable state. he did not even coin the same amount of gold as before, but less—a thing which had never been done before. such was the manner in which justinian dealt with the magistracies.
