oppression of the soldiers by the logothetes—division of the soldiers into three classes—their promotion suspended—their pay diverted to other purposes—the diminishing army—praetorian soldiers disbanded—alexander the logothete in italy—the general’s aides-decamp—the frontier garrisons abandoned—palace guards, scholares, and supernumeraries—armenians—peter, the master of offices, the murderer of amalasunta—palace officials, domestics, and protectors—suppression of the quinquennial gratuity—the imperial officers and dignitaries.

i must not, however, omit to mention the manner in which justinian treated the soldiers. he appointed commissioners, called logothetae,17 with directions to squeeze as much money as they could out of them, a twelfth part of the sum thus obtained being assured to them. the following was their mode of operation every year. it was an established custom that the soldiers should not all have the same pay. those who were young, and had just joined, received less than those who had undergone hardships in the field and were already half-way up the list; while the veterans, whose term of service was all but over, received a more considerable sum, that they might have sufficient to live upon as private individuals, and, after their death, might be able to leave a small inheritance by way of consolation to their families. thus, in course of time, the soldiers gradually rose in rank, according as their comrades died or retired from the service, and their pay from the public funds was regulated in accordance with their seniority. but these commissioners would not allow the names of those who had died or fallen in battle to be struck out, or the vacancies to be filled, until a long interval had elapsed. the result was, that the army was short of men, and the survivors, after the death of the veterans, were kept in a position far inferior to their merits, and received less pay than they ought to have done, while in the meantime the commissioners handed over to justinian the money they thus purloined from the soldiers. in addition, they harassed the soldiers with several other kinds of injustices, by way of recompense for the dangers they had undergone in the field; they were taunted with the name of greeks, as if greece could never produce a brave soldier; others were cashiered, as not having been ordered by the emperor to serve, although they showed their commissions, the genuineness of which the logothetae did not hesitate to call in question; others, again, were disbanded for having absented themselves a short time from their quarters. afterwards, some of the palace guards were sent into every part of the empire to take an exact inventory of the soldiers who were or were not fit for service. some were deprived of their belts, as being useless and too old, and for the future were obliged to solicit alms from the charitable in the open market-place—a sad and melancholy spectacle to all beholders. the rest were reduced to such a state of terror that, in order to avoid similar treatment, they offered large sums of money to buy themselves out, so that the soldiers, being thus rendered destitute and in many ways enfeebled, conceived an utter aversion to the service.

this endangered the authority of the romans, especially in italy. alexander, who was sent thither as commissioner, unhesitatingly reproached the soldiers for this. he also exacted large sums of money from the italians, under the pretence of punishing them for their negotiations with theoderic and the goths. the soldiers were not the only persons who were reduced to poverty and privation by the commissioners; but those who had accompanied the generals in different capacities and had formerly enjoyed a high reputation, found themselves in great distress, as they had no means of procuring the ordinary necessaries. since i am speaking of the soldiers, i will give a few additional details. preceding emperors had, for a very long time past, carefully posted upon all the frontiers of the empire a large military force to protect its boundaries, and particularly, in the eastern provinces, in order to repel the inroads of the persians and saracens, they had established garrisons called “frontier troops.” justinian at first treated these troops with such shameful neglect that their pay was four, or even five years in arrear; and, when peace was concluded between rome and persia, these unhappy individuals, who expected to enjoy the advantages of peace, were obliged to make a present to the treasury of the money due to them; and the emperor finally disbanded them most unjustly. thus the frontiers of the roman empire remained ungarrisoned, and the troops had nothing to subsist upon except the benevolence of the charitable.

there was a certain body of soldiers, about 3,500 in number, called “scholares,” who had been originally appointed as an imperial palace-guard, and received a larger pay from the imperial treasury than the rest of the army. they were first chosen according to merit from the armenians; but, from the reign of zeno, anyone, however cowardly and unwarlike, was allowed to enter this body. in course of time, even slaves, on payment of a sum of money, were admitted to their ranks. when justin succeeded to the throne, justinian enrolled a large number on payment of considerable sums of money. when the list was filled up, he added about 2,000 more who were called “supernumeraries,” but disbanded them, when he himself came to the throne, without any reimbursement. in regard to these “scholares,” he invented the following plan: whenever it was probable that an expedition would be despatched to italy, libya, or persia, he ordered them to make ready to take part in the campaign, although he knew that they were utterly unfit for war; and they, being afraid of this, surrendered their salaries to the emperor. this was a frequent occurrence. when peter was “master of offices,” he daily harassed them with monstrous thefts. this man, although he was of a mild and by no means overbearing disposition, was the greatest thief in the world and an absolute slave to sordid avarice. he it was who (as i have related) contrived the murder of amalasunta, the daughter of theodoric.

there are in the imperial household other officers of much higher rank, who, having purchased their positions for a larger sum, receive better pay in proportion. these are called “domestics” and “protectors.” they have always been exempt from military service, and are only reckoned members of the palace on account of their dignity and rank. some of them are constantly in byzantium, while others have long been established in galatia or other provinces. justinian frightened these in the same manner into abandoning their salaries to him. in conclusion, it was the custom that, every five years, the emperor should present each of the soldiers with a fixed sum in gold. accordingly, every five years, commissioners were despatched to all parts of the empire, to bestow five staters of gold upon every soldier as a gift from the emperor. this had long been an established and inviolable practice. but, from the day that justinian assumed the management of affairs, he did nothing of the kind, and showed no intention of doing so during the thirty-two years of his reign, so that the custom was almost completely forgotten.