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 Forficula[18] 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.