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.