laws changed for money considerations—affair of the church of emesa—priscus the forger—a hundred years’ prescription granted to the churches—mission of longinus—persecution of the jews at the passover—justinian’s intolerance.
i must now briefly relate how he unhesitatingly abolished the laws when money was in question. there was in emesa a man named priscus, who was an expert forger and very clever in his art. the church of emesa, many years before, had been instituted sole heir to the property of one of the most distinguished inhabitants named mammianus, a patrician of noble birth and of great wealth. during the reign of justinian, priscus made a list of all the families of the town, taking care to notice which were wealthy and able to disburse large sums. he carefully hunted up the names of their ancestors, and, having found some old documents in their handwriting, forged a number of acknowledgments, in which they confessed that they were largely indebted to mammianus in sums of money which had been left with them by him as a deposit. the amount of these forged acknowledgments was no less than a hundred centenars of gold. he also imitated in a marvellous manner the handwriting of a public notary, a man of conspicuous honesty and virtue, who during the lifetime of mammianus used to draw up all their documents for the citizens, sealing them with his own hand, and delivered these forged documents to those who managed the ecclesiastical affairs of emesa, on condition that he should receive part of the money which might be obtained in this manner.
but, since there was a law which limited all legal processes to a period of thirty years, except in cases of mortgage and certain others, in which the prescription extended to forty years, they resolved to go to byzantium and, offering a large sum of money to the emperor, to beg him to assist them in their project of ruining their fellow-citizens.
the emperor accepted the money, and immediately published a decree which ordained that affairs relating to the church should not be restricted to the ordinary prescription, but that anything might be recovered, if claimed within a hundred years: which regulation was to be observed not only in emesa, but throughout the whole of the roman empire. in order to see that the new rule was put into execution, he sent longinus to emesa, a man of great vigour and bodily strength, who was afterwards made praefect of byzantium. those who had the management of the affairs of the church of emesa, acting upon the forged documents, sued some of the citizens for two centenars of gold, which they were condemned to pay, being unable to raise any objection, by reason of the length of time elapsed and their ignorance of the facts. all the inhabitants, and especially the principal citizens, were in great distress and highly incensed against their accusers. when ruin already threatened the majority of the citizens, providence came to their assistance in a most unexpected manner. longinus ordered priscus, the contriver of this detestable invention, to bring him all the acknowledgments; and, when he showed himself unwilling to do so, he dealt him a violent blow in the face. priscus, unable to resist the blow dealt by a man of such bodily strength, fell backwards upon the ground, trembling and affrighted. believing that longinus had discovered the whole affair, he confessed; and, the whole trick being thus brought to light, the suits were stopped.
justinian, not content with subverting the laws of the roman empire every day, exerted himself in like manner to do away with those of the jews; for, if easter came sooner in their calendar than in that of the christians, he did not allow them to celebrate the passover on their own proper day or to make their offerings to god, or to perform any of their usual solemnities. the magistrates even inflicted heavy fines upon several of them, upon information that they had eaten the paschal lamb during that time, as if it were an infraction of the laws of the state. although i could mention countless acts of this nature committed by justinian, i will not do so, for i must draw my narrative to a close. what i have said will be sufficient to indicate the character of the man.
