destruction of city decorations and ornaments—advocates deprived of their fees by the institution of arbitrators—physicians and professors deprived of their pensions—public spectacles discontinued—the consulship suppressed—scarcity of corn and water at byzantium, rome, and alexandria—generosity of theodoric, the conqueror of italy—greed of alexander forficula—disbanding of the garrison of thermopylae—spoliation of athens and other greek cities—hephaestus and diocletian.

i must now relate how he robbed byzantium and other cities of their ornaments. in the first place he resolved to humiliate the lawyers. he deprived them of all the fees, which, after they had finished their case, were considerable, and enriched them and increased their distinction. he ordered that litigants should come to an agreement upon oath, which brought the lawyers into contempt and insignificance. after he had seized the estates of the senators and other families reputed wealthy, in byzantium and throughout the empire, the profession had little to do, for the citizens no longer possessed property worth disputing about. thus, of the numerous and famous orators who once composed this order there remained only a few, who were everywhere despised and lived in the greatest poverty, finding that their profession brought them nothing but insult. he also caused physicians and professors of the liberal arts to be deprived of the necessaries of life. he cut off from them all the supplies which former emperors had attached to these professions, and which were paid out of the state funds. further, he had no scruple about transferring to the public funds all the revenues which the inhabitants of the cities had devoted either to public purposes or for providing entertainments. from that time no attention was paid to physicians or professors; no one ventured to trouble himself about the public buildings; there were no public lights in the cities, or any enjoyments for the inhabitants; the performances in the theatres and hippodromes and the combats of wild beasts, in which theodora had been bred and brought up, were entirely discontinued. he afterwards suppressed public exhibitions in byzantium, to save the usual state contribution, to the ruin of an almost countless multitude who found their means of support in these entertainments. their life, both in public and private, became sad and dejected and utterly joyless, as if some misfortune had fallen upon them from heaven. nothing was spoken of in conversation at home, in the streets, or in the churches, except misfortune and suffering. such was the state of the cities.

i have still something important to mention. every year two consuls were appointed—one at rome, the other at byzantium. whoever was advanced to that dignity was expected to expend more than twenty centenars of gold upon the public. this sum was to a small extent furnished by the consuls themselves, while the greater part was due to the liberality of the emperor. this money was distributed amongst those whom i have mentioned, above all to the most necessitous, and principally to those employed upon the stage, which materially increased the comfort of the citizens. but, since the accession of justinian, the elections never took place at the proper time; sometimes one consul remained in office for several years, and at last people never even dreamed of a fresh appointment. this reduced all to the greatest distress; since the emperor no longer granted the usual assistance to his subjects, and at the same time deprived them of what they had by every means in his power.

i think i have given a sufficient account of the manner in which this destroyer swallowed up the property of the members of the senate and deprived them all of their substance, whether publicly or privately. i also think that i have said enough concerning the fraudulent accusations which he made use of, in order to get possession of the property of other families which were reputed to be wealthy. lastly, i have described the wrongs he inflicted upon the soldiers and servants of those in authority and the militia in the palace; upon countrymen, the possessors and proprietors of estates, and professors of the arts and sciences; upon merchants, shipmasters and sailors; mechanics, artisans, and retail dealers; those who gained their livelihood by performing upon the stage; in a word, upon all who were affected by the misery of these. i must now speak of his treatment of the poor, the lower classes, the indigent, and the sick and infirm. i will then go on to speak of his treatment of the priests.

at first, as has been said, he got all the shops into his own hands, and having established monopolies of all the most necessary articles of life, exacted from his subjects more than three times their value. but if i were to enter into the details of all these monopolies, i should never finish my narrative, for they are innumerable.

he imposed a perpetual and most severe tax upon bread, which the artisans, the poor, and infirm were compelled to purchase. he demanded from this commodity a revenue of three centenars of gold every year, and those poor wretches were obliged to support themselves upon bread full of dust, for the emperor did not blush to carry his avarice to this extent. seizing upon this as an excuse, the superintendents of the markets, eager to fill their own pockets, in a short time acquired great wealth, and, in spite of the cheapness of food, reduced the poor to a state of artificial and unexpected famine; for they were not allowed to import corn from any other parts, but were obliged to eat bread purchased in the city.

one of the city aqueducts had broken, and a considerable portion of the water destined for the use of the inhabitants was lost. justinian, however, took no notice of it, being unwilling to incur any expense for repairs, although a great crowd continually thronged round the fountains, and all the baths had been shut. nevertheless, he expended vast sums without any reason or sense upon buildings on the seashore, and also built everywhere throughout the suburbs, as if the palaces, in which their predecessors had always been content to live, were no longer suitable for himself and theodora; so that it was not merely parsimony, but a desire for the destruction of human life, that prevented him from repairing the aqueduct, for no one, from most ancient times, had ever shown himself more eager than justinian to amass wealth, and at the same time to spend it in a most wasteful and extravagant manner. thus this emperor struck at the poorest and most miserable of his subjects through two most necessary articles of food—bread and water, by making the one difficult to procure, and the other too dear for them to buy.

it was not only the poor of byzantium, however, that he harassed in this manner, but, as i will presently mention, the inhabitants of several other cities. when theodoric had made himself master of italy, in order to preserve some trace of the old constitution, he permitted the praetorian guards to remain in the palace and continued their daily allowance. these soldiers were very numerous. there were the silentiarii, the domestici, and the scholares, about whom there was nothing military except the name, and their salary was hardly sufficient to live upon. theodoric also ordered that their children and descendants should have the reversion of this. to the poor, who lived near the church of peter the apostle, he distributed every year 3,000 bushels of corn out of the public stores. all continued to receive these donations until the arrival of alexander forficula18 in italy. he resolved to deprive them of it immediately; and, when the emperor was informed of this, he approved of his conduct, and treated alexander with still greater honour. during his journey, alexander treated the greeks in the following manner:—the peasants of the district near the pass of thermopylae had long manned the fortress, and, each in turn, mounted guard over the wall which blocks the pass, whenever there seemed any likelihood of an invasion of the barbarians. but alexander, on his arrival, pretended that it was to the interest of the peloponnesians not to leave the protection of the pass to the peasants. he established a garrison of about 2,000 soldiers, who were not paid out of the public funds, but by each of the cities in greece. on this pretext, he transferred to the public treasury all the revenues of these towns which were intended for public purposes or to cover the expenses of shows and entertainments. he pretended that it was to be employed for the support of the soldiers, and in consequence, from that time, no public buildings or other objects of utility were erected or promoted either in athens or throughout greece. justinian, however, hastened to give his sanction to all the acts of forficula.

we must now speak of the poor of alexandria. amongst the lawyers of that city was one hephaestus, who, having been appointed governor, suppressed popular disturbances by the terror he inspired, but at the same time reduced the citizens to the greatest distress. he immediately established a monopoly of all wares, which he forbade other merchants to sell. he reserved everything for himself alone, sold everything himself, and fixed the price by the capricious exercise of his authority. consequently, the city was in the greatest distress from want of provisions; the poor no longer had a sufficient supply of what was formerly sold at a low rate, and especially felt the difficulty of obtaining bread; for the governor alone bought up all the corn that came from egypt, and did not allow anyone else to purchase even so much as a bushel; and in this manner, he taxed the loaves and put upon them what price he pleased. by this means he amassed an enormous fortune, and was likewise careful to satisfy the greed of the emperor. so great was the terror inspired by hephaestus, that the people of alexandria endured their ill-treatment in silence; and the emperor, out of gratitude for the money which flowed into his exchequer from that quarter, conceived a great affection for hephaestus. the latter, in order to secure in a still greater degree the favour of the emperor, carried out the following plan. when diocletian became emperor of the romans, he ordered a yearly distribution of corn to be made to the necessitous poor of alexandria; and the people, settling its distribution amongst themselves, transmitted the right to their descendants. hephaestus deprived the necessitous of 2,000,000 bushels yearly, and deposited it in the imperial granaries, declaring, in his despatch to the emperor, that this grant of corn had previously been made in a manner that was neither just nor in conformity with the interests of the state. the emperor approved of his conduct and became more attached to him than ever. the alexandrians, whose hopes of existence depended upon this distribution, felt the cruelty bitterly, especially at the time of their distress.