3. In the midst of his most earnest efforts at reform Justinian never failed to impress on all concerned that with himself and his Imperial partner the rights of the crown and the maintenance of the revenue were of paramount importance.[345] At the head of their codicils the Rectors were admonished to make it their study above all things to expedite the fiscal exactions; whilst the tributaries were warned that no matter how vehemently their governor had enforced payment of the imposts, no cause of action was granted to them against him.[346] On the contrary, they were to conduct him with all deference from the province at the end of his term, and, should they presume to molest him during his fifty days of postponed departure on that account, they would be subjected to penalties of exceptional severity.[347] The Emperor deplores the diminution of Roman territory which has resulted from the inactivity of former rulers, and calls attention to his own energy and prowess by which the repair of their errors has been begun.[348] Military operations, however, are expensive, and hostile incursions can only be repelled if people respond freely to the demands of the tax collectors.[349] Justinian asserts that he disdains to imitate the example of his predecessors who sold the offices of the state, thus depriving themselves of the right to expostulate with unjust administrators who embezzled the national funds.[350] But a new era has now dawned, government with pure hands is assured for the future, and liability will be limited strictly to the legitimate imposts. Therefore let all alike sing hymns of praise to God and the Saviour for the passing of these new laws.[351]
Justinian, notwithstanding his professions, was mainly influenced by the hope of pecuniary gain when he essayed to reverse the administrative system of his predecessors. He calculated that the rooted abuses which they had tolerated for centuries were a cause that only one third, possibly, indeed, not more than a fourth, of the taxes collected found their way to the Imperial treasury.[352] Hence his ministry of the interior soon resolved itself into a mere organization for the invention of legislation which would conduce to the raising of money.[353] The devices which suggested themselves from time to time as financial expedients were multifarious and of the most unrelated character. Some of these have been already alluded to,[354] but a few others which were productive of more signal changes require particular notice. Roman Armenia was joined to the less important region of that name on the west of the Euphrates and reduced to the level of an ordinary province, with a Proconsul for its principal Rector.[355] Consequently taxes were imposed, and the inhabitants found themselves racked for payments which they had previously escaped.[356] In the time of Justin, Justinian added four troops to the Scholars of the Palace, and received from each new member a premium for his position in the force. Soon after his accession he disbanded them as a measure of retrenchment, but retained the purchase money. Subsequently he made a practice of ordering these carpet soldiers for active service, with the understanding that they would buy themselves off the dreaded prospect by surrendering a quota of their pay.[357] Every opportunity was taken to consolidate trade monopolies to the advantage of the government;[358] and this was especially the case with respect to silk. Justinian pretended to be indignant when a rise of price was operated by the deficient supply, and decreed that the maximum retail cost should be eight solidi (£4 10s.) the pound.[359] Confiscation was the penalty for contravening this regulation, but the traffic was still carried on in secret. Here Theodora found an opening for the exercise of her talents, and through private channels succeeded in discovering the merchants who were implicated. Thereupon a fine of 100 lb. of gold (£4,000) was imposed on each of them.[360] Soon the factories at Tyre and Berytus, the headquarters of the commerce, began to languish, the operatives were thrown out of work, and ultimately the Praetorian Praefect possessed himself of the whole manufacture. Exorbitant prices were then fixed which yielded an immense profit to the Imperial exchequer, but numberless persons were ruined during the process of transfer.[361] Like results obtained in relation to the corn supply of Egypt through manœuvres at Alexandria, by which the Praefect of the City was constituted the sole purveyor of that commodity. A scarceness and dearness of bread was the natural consequence of this innovation.[362] Another fiscal move, far-reaching in its effects, was the diversion of the separate revenues of the municipalities[363] into the hands of the Emperor. The local curiae being no longer permitted to deal with them, public works were neglected and the inhabitants ceased to be entertained by the popular spectacles.[364] A blight seemed to fall on the Empire, says the contemporary historian, and people had no resource but the discussion of present calamities and the expression of their fears for the future.[365] Related to this policy was the formal abolition of the Consulship with its attendant train of festivities which enlivened the opening of each year. During the space of a decade the office had only been filled in a desultory manner, but the last Consul was actually seen in 541, and soon afterwards that link between the Byzantines and the glories of the old Republic was severed by a definite Act.[366] To tamper with the currency has always been an inviting procedure with needy princes, and Justinian did not resist having recourse to this artifice. By giving a fictitious value to copper he managed to rake in the gold coinage at about five-sixths of its actual worth.[367] Such are the chief methods by which in this reign the revenue was inflated beyond its normal proportions, and, to complete the list, reference may be made to ill-advised economies effected by the suppression of pay and pensions usually granted by a state and to forfeitures of private property constantly decreed on slight pretexts.[368]
If Justinian's studied scheme of reform could have been applied successfully in practice, it is possible that fiscal oppression might have been banished from the Empire. But the Autocrator at Constantinople was scarcely more than a suzerain in the provinces, and his fiat was but slightly regarded by those who occupied any position of power in districts remote from the capital.[369] Doubtless his technical enactments as to the rank and territorial jurisdiction of diverse Rectors were received as indisputable, but at the same time they marked the limits of his power to work a change in methods of local rule which had been practised for centuries. Once invested with authority, the provincial governor departed to tread in the footsteps of his predecessors, while the same futile prohibitions continued to issue periodically from the mouth of the Emperor, secluded in his distant Court.[370] Before the lapse of a twelvemonth Justinian resigned himself to ignoring his own self-denying ordinance, and a candidate for office was noted only in relation to his ability to pay at the moment, and the magnitude of his promises for the future.[371] His repeated denunciations of the venality of his vicegerents represented no more than his formal recognition of the lamentations which continually reached his tribunal, or his exasperation at a prospective loss of revenue from the flagrant excesses of some reckless extortioner.[372] He was also extremely parsimonious in remitting arrears of taxation, even in districts which had suffered from hostile invasions or other calamities. Thus numbers of the small landowners were allowed to languish under the apprehension that at any moment their whole property might be seized in order to wipe out their liabilities.[373]
A river of wealth flowed through the Byzantine exchequer at the bidding of the Emperor. The sources were exhausted, and the reservoir was discharged under the influence of the same will. The people, who formed the well-head, suffered untold miseries in contributing under compulsion to the supply, but they possessed no control over the ultimate distribution of the stream. These activities have now been sufficiently considered on the one side; it remains for us to turn our attention to the other. During the twenty years which followed the Nika rebellion the reign of Justinian was distinguished by a series of magnificent achievements both at home and abroad; great works were accomplished within the Empire; beyond its borders aggressive wars were waged and a moiety of the Western Empire was restored to the dominion of the East. But the background of this brilliant scene was always of the same gloomy tint, such as has been described in the present chapter, and these splendid successes were obtained at the cost, but not to the advantage of the Greek nation in general. While Justinian went on adding magniloquent epithets to his name indicative of conquest and triumph over alien races in the West,[374] his immediate subjects continued to be afflicted by the harshness and rapacity of the administration, as well as by the tyranny of the local aristocracy. Concomitantly the barbarians in Europe and the Persians in Asia sapped the vitals of the Empire and impoverished or enslaved its inhabitants. Victory and acquisition abroad by the aid of mercenary troops were nullified by defeat and exhaustion at home; and the extended Empire which Justinian handed down to his successors was inferior in political vigour and sociological prosperity to the smaller dominions which he had inherited from Anastasius.
[185] Nov. viii, 8, 10; xvii, 1; xxx, 11, etc.
[186] See p. 198 et seq.
[187] See p. 162.
[188] Jn. Lydus (De Magistr., iii, 51) confirms the statement of Procopius (Anecd., 19) that the immense savings of Anastasius were dissipated during the reign of Justin. He supplies a reason, viz., that the Emperor and his nephew were averse to bearing hardly on their subjects. There seems, however to have been a sinking fund kept up under the name of Anastasius, which continued to exist as a small reserve; Jn. Ephes. (Smith, Oxford, 1860), p. 358.
[189] "He spared no expense, still less did he spare the property of his subjects"; Zonaras, xiv, 6.
[190] "Justinian was insatiable in his lust after gold, and coveted his subjects' property to such an extent that he sold them all in a body to his officials and tax-collectors"; Evagrius, iv, 30; cf. Procopius, Anecd., 21 et passim.
[191] Procopius, Anecd., 14.
[192] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 24.
[193] Suidas, sb. nom. Two separate notices, apparently of the same Tribonian, but there is some discrepancy.
[194] De Nov. Cod. Fac. (528), and De Confirm. (529).
[195] Cod., I, xvii, 1; Procopius, loc. cit.
[196] Cod., I, xvii (Tanta and Dedit nobis, 17), or Pand., praef.
[197] He affected to live in apprehension that Justinian would be suddenly snatched up to heaven on account of his more than mortal virtue, like Elijah said the Christians, like Romulus thought the Pagans; Procopius, Anecd., 13; Hesychius, De Vir. Illust., 67; Suidas, loc. cit.
[198] Hesychius and Suidas, loc. cit. The statement is doubted, but Hesychius was a contemporary.
[199] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 25; Anecd., 20; Suidas, loc. cit.
[200] Procopius, Anecd., 14.
[201] Ibid.
[202] Procopius, Anecd., 14. A referendary named Leon is said to have first opened his eyes as to the feasibility of selling his decisions and to have leagued with him for that purpose. Tribonian seems to have made his chicanery profitable to himself alone.
[203] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 24.
[204] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 57.
[205] Ibid.
[206] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 24.
[207] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 57.
[208] Ibid. He quotes a current epigram to the effect that "Cappadocians were always bad, worse in office, worst in love of money, and worse than worst if mounted in a grand official chariot." The Praetorian Praefect wore a purple robe which only differed from that of the Emperor by being cut short at the knees. His office was adorned with a golden inkstand, weighing a hundred pounds; Ibid., ii, 13, 14.
[209] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., iii, 62; Procopius, loc. cit.
[210] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 66-69; cf. Procopius, Evagrius, and Zonaras, loc. cit. Owing to his ignorance of Latin he worked for the abolition of that language in governmental documents. Under Theodosius II, one Cyrus, an Egyptian, being similarly ignorant, attempted the same, but lost the praefecture by it. There was an oracle that fortune would desert the Romans should they forget their native tongue; Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., ii, 12; iii, 42.
[211] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 70.
[212] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 57. Lydus says that he himself saw an old man of his acquaintance, who was suspected of having a private hoard, hung up by the hands with stiff ropes until he expired.
[213] Ibid., 58. As an instance Lydus describes the conduct of another Cappadocian, nicknamed Maxilloplumacius ("Puffy-Cheeks"), from his peculiar aspect, who raided Asia for the fisc. He began at Philadelphia, the native town of Lydus, where he established himself in great state, and indulged himself in unbounded luxury, licentiousness, and cruelty. One Petronius, a man of rank and culture in the town, being possessed of some handsome jewels as heirlooms, was ordered to deliver them up. On his refusal he was loaded with chains, beaten with rods, and shut up in a stable. The Philadelphians were deeply grieved and the Bishop was moved to intercede on his behalf. Bible in hand, at the head of several of his inferior clergy, he appeared before the tyrant, but was at once assailed with foul and abusive language. He retired in dismay, but Petronius, at last reduced to despair, promised everything, and, on being let out, took his jewels and other valuables to the Praetorium, where he threw them in a heap in the vestibule. In another case an old soldier was racked for twenty solidi which he could not pay, but, anxious to be released at any cost, finally asserted that he had them in concealment. Being accompanied to his dwelling, and allowed to search apart, after some delay he was found to have hanged himself. The body was then kicked into the street, and the wretched premises gutted by the apparitors.
[214] Ibid., 66, 67.
[215] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 62. Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 24.
[216] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., ii, 21.
[217] Ibid., iii, 64; but according to Procopius (loc. cit.) he spent the early part of the day in pillaging the citizens, and then flung himself into dissipation. Different periods of his career may be indicated. At first he would be more brisk in making his public appearances.
[218] Both Procopius and Lydus notice this addiction to surfeiting.
[219] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 62.
[220] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 25.
[221] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 70.
[222] See p. 160.
[223] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 69.
[224] Ibid., 61; Procopius, Anecd., 30. According to the latter the direct route to Persia was not tampered with. The celerity of some of the couriers by these posts was remarkable. Of one Palladius Theodosius II used to say that the area of the Empire seemed to be contracted to a small space, he came and went so rapidly between distant frontiers. His time from CP. to the Persian border was three days, about 230 miles a day; Socrates, vii, 19.
[225] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 70.
[226] Nov. viii, praef., 11, etc.
[227] "All can see that he who buys his office for gold, and that money borrowed at usury, must be beset by many whom he is obliged to satisfy from his province so that he may be liberated from debt," Ibid. "They (the Rectors) had to be rapacious and have but one thought, to satisfy creditors following them and threatening them on all sides. Thus our subjects have been sold," etc.; Nov. xxviii, 4.
[228] "He must also think of putting by something for the future when no longer in office"; Nov. viii, praef.
[229] Nov. cxxx; cf. cxxviii; Procopius, Anecd., 23, 30; Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 61.
[230] Cod., II, xiv, xv, xvi; Nov. xvii, 15, etc.
[231] Cod., XI, liii; Nov. xvii, 13, 14, etc.; see p. 202.
[232] Nov. xxxii; xxxiii; xxxiv. "On account of the avarice of creditors who abuse the poverty of the times (535) and acquire the allotments of the unfortunate peasants, retaining all their property in return for a little sustenance, we enacted," etc. This (Nov. xxxiii) is addressed to the Praetorian Praefect of Illyricum, an official seldom heard of, who seems to have been almost destitute of political influence as compared with his potent colleague of the East.
[233] "We are almost ashamed to refer to the conduct of these. Men of great possessions, with what insolence they range the country; how they are served by guards, so that an intolerable crowd of men follow them; how daringly they pillage everybody, among whom are many priests, but mostly women," etc.; Nov. xxx, 5. "What can be more trying than the driving off of oxen, horses, and cattle in general, or even (to speak of small matters) of domestic fowl ... whence a multitude appeals to us here (CP.) daily; men, women, hustled from their homes, in beggary, sometimes to die here"; Nov. lxix, 1; cf. Edict viii.
[234] Nov. xvii, 2; lxxxv, passim; Edict viii, praef., etc.
[235] The conduct of Rectors is often described in detail. "They dismiss many culprits, selling to them their offences: very many innocent people they condemn in order to benefit obnoxious persons, and not only in money actions, but in criminal cases"; Nov. viii, praef. "We hear how unjustly the provincial judges act for the sake of lucre, declining their duties as to wills, attestation of facts, marriages, settlements, and even burials" (without bribes); Nov. cxxxiv, 3. "He abstained from no sort of actual depredation, plundered towns and returned to this happy city loaded with gold, leaving the region in the utmost poverty"; Edict xii. Also by giving a licence to agents: "They are not to despatch 'pursuers of brigands' or 'inhibitors of disorder,' rather to be called thieves and rioters who, using the occasion as a cloak, are guilty of the worst excesses"; Nov. viii, 12. "As to curators and tractators, we abolish the very names, looking back to the injuries they have inflicted in the past on the wretched tributaries"; Nov. xxx, 2. Another expedient was to plant deputies (vicarii, loci servatores, τοποτηρηταί) in every part of his province, to whom the Rector delegated his full powers, thus becoming a hundred-handed Briareus to rack the provincials; Nov. viii, 4; xvii, 10; cxxxiv, 1; Salvian, writing in the West, c. 450, complains that the Rector commits himself every crime which he sits to punish as a judge; and, what he thinks even worse, continues in the same courses after he has retired into the position of a rich and powerful private citizen; De Gubernat. Dei, vii, 21. For the benefit of readers not familiar with the Corpus Juris Civilis I may mention that in referring to "Novels" I am quoting Justinian's own words, or at least the Acts composed under his eye. Much of their text is clearly direct from his pen. But owing to the verbosity of the original I am sometimes obliged to condense.
[236] See pp. 158 et seq., 198 et seq.
[237] Nov. xxiv, 3; xxv, 4; xxvi, 4. They are enumerated as "repairs, of walls, roads, statues, bridges, harbours, and aqueducts; clearing of public sites, demolition of buildings improperly located, and laying out of gardens."
[238] Jn. Lydus (loc. cit., 58) describes the doings of Maxilloplumacius in this respect also, comparing him to Phalaris for cruelty, to Busiris as a slayer of guests, and to Sardanapalus for luxury and licentiousness. The institution of slavery and the absence of a Habeas Corpus under a despotic government opened the door to most of this infamy.
[239] Nov. xxiv, 1. This applies to Pisidia, where the natives are characterized as being peculiarly bloodthirsty and rebellious.
[240] Nov. cxxxiv, 13. He points out that mutilation of the feet, by interfering with locomotion, is a much severer penalty than removing the hands and forbids it (against Constantine, who ordained it in the case of fugitive slaves; Cod. VI, i, 3).
[241] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 66.
[242] Procopius, Anecd., 25.
[243] Ibid.
[244] Nov. xliii.
[245] Ibid.
[246] Procopius (Anecd., 7, 10) is the authority for all these details. In every essential point he is corroborated by Evagrius, iv, 32.
[247] Evagrius, loc. cit.
[248] Both Procopius (Anecd., 17) and Evagrius (loc. cit.) mention the case of Callinicus, governor of Cilicia, who was impaled for vindicating the law by the execution of two murderers of the Blue Faction. Procopius (Anecd., 29) also recounts an émeute at Tarsus, in which the Blues were the principals. In both these cases the part of violent vengeance was played by Theodora. Evagrius lies under the suspicion of having read the Anecdotes of Procopius. If so, the fact that he makes no protest against the picture there given of the Empress proves his belief in its truth. In a parallel case he strongly defends Constantine against the strictures of Zosimus; iii, 40, 41. Zonaras also seems to be influenced by the work. Indeed it is difficult to see how he could have avoided knowing it since it was familiar to "Suidas" before his time.
[249] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 70; cf. Nov. xxiv, 2; xxv, 3; xxx, 9; cxxviii, praef.; cxlv, praef. Most fully in Nov. lxxx, e.g., "We find that the provinces are being gradually despoiled of their inhabitants; our great city here is populous with crowds of diverse men, chiefly farmers who have left their townships and lands." Also specified as men, women, clerics, monks, nuns, and advocates of outlying places.
[250] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 70; cf. ii, 29, 30; Nov. xiii, lxxx.
[251] Jn. Lydus, loc. cit., 70; Zonaras, xiv, 6.
[252] See p. 303.
[253] By a comparison of Jn. Malala (xviii, p. 473) and Theophanes (an. 6,024), the fact of the day being a Sunday can be determined.
[254] This taunt evidently means, "You are not fit to be Christians; abandon the Trinity and join the infidel monotheists."
[255] This dialogue exists only in Theophanes (an. cit.), but is alluded to in Chron. Paschal.; an. 532. I have only sampled it, as, beyond the animosity shown on each side, there is little pregnancy in it, and the whole would be merely tedious to the ordinary reader. It has often been translated at length, by Isambert, Hodgkin, Bury, Diehl, etc.
[256] Malala and Theophanes, loc. cit. According to the latter they were strung up a second time, and again fell.
[257] Jn. Malala, p. 474.
[258] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 24; Malala, loc. cit., etc.
[259] Theophanes, loc. cit.
[260] Malala and Theophanes. loc. cit.; cf. Procopius and Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.
[261] Procopius, loc. cit.
[262] Ibid.
[263] Chron. Paschal, and Theophanes, loc. cit.
[264] Jn. Malala, loc. cit.; Zonaras, xiv, 6.
[265] Procopius, Malala, and Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.
[266] Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.
[267] Procopius, Malala, and Chron. Paschal., loc. cit. The new Praetorian Praefect was named Phocas, whose excellent character is eulogized by Procopius (Anecd., 21), and especially by Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 72.
[268] Procopius, loc. cit.
[269] Ibid.; Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.
[270] Procopius, loc. cit., etc. About 3,000 barbarian soldiers, according to Theophanes, loc. cit.
[271] Jn. Malala, p. 475; Zonaras, loc. cit.
[272] Chron. Paschal. and Zonaras, loc. cit.
[273] Zonaras, loc. cit.
[274] Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.
[275] Chron. Paschal. and Zonaras, loc. cit.
[276] Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.
[277] Ibid.; Theophanes, loc. cit.; see p. 58. This building was burnt by the military.
[278] Ibid.; see p. 56.
[279] Chron. Pascal., loc. cit.; see p. 56.
[280] Cedrenus, i, p. 648; see p. 58. He and Zonaras repeat, of course, for the most part what has been said by earlier writers.
[281] Theophanes, loc. cit.; see p. 68.
[282] Procopius, loc. cit., etc.; see p. 68.
[283] Marcellinus Comes (an. 532) dwells on this aspect of the insurrection. In his view it was all a conspiracy of the three brothers, who had bribed the seditious elements of the populace; they were dissimulating within the Palace, etc. Jn. Lydus (loc. cit.) alone shows how the revolt originated from the congested malcontents in the capital, but Zonaras gives an inkling (loc. cit.). M. C. was long associated with Justinian as the officer (cancellarius) of his legal court (Cassiodorus, De Inst. Div. Lit., 17) and his account was probably inspired by the Emperor as most politic.
[284] Procopius, loc. cit. Most probably, but according to Chron. Paschal. (loc. cit.) it was the next morning.
[285] Theophanes, loc. cit.; Procopius (loc. cit.) more vaguely.
[286] Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.; with less detail by Malala, p. 475.
[287] The coronation, etc., of Hypatius is told most circumstantially by Procopius (loc. cit.), but some further details are to be found in the briefer accounts of the later chronographists.
[288] Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.
[289] Ibid.; Theophanes, loc. cit.
[290] The eximious conduct of Theodora on this occasion is known to us through Procopius only (loc. cit.), but nevertheless I accept it frankly, and do not attempt to argue its improbability; cf. M. Ducas, p. 495 ("καλὸν ἐντάφιον ἡ τύραννιζ"; Isocrates, Archidamus, 44; "Βασιλεία"; Procopius).
[291] Procopius, loc. cit.
[292] Jn. Malala, p. 476; Chron. Paschal., loc. cit., etc. Procopius seems to know nothing of the part played by Narses, although he was possibly in the Palace with Belisarius all the time.
[293] Two hundred and fifty of the Greens, armed and mailed; Chron. Paschal. and Theophanes, loc. cit.
[294] Procopius, loc. cit.; some of the others make it more.
[295] Procopius, loc. cit. Generally assumed to be nephews of Justinian ex fratre ignoto. Procopius alone seems to know of the assistance they rendered, or the exact details of the attack in general.
[296] Jn. Malala, loc. cit., etc. They are represented as pleading, "Master, we designedly massed your enemies into the Hippodrome," to which Justinian replies, "You did well, but why not before the city was consumed by fire?" As all the damage was done while they were still in personal attendance on him, this taunt seems illogical.
[297] Zacharia Myt. (ix, 14) is the only one to mention Theodora's implacability. "She became enraged and swore by God and him (J.)," etc.
[298] Procopius, loc. cit., etc. According to Chron. Paschal., the body of Hypatius was thrown up again, and Justinian ordered it to be buried under an epitaph, "Here lies the Emperor of the Wolves" (see Ducange on Λούππα). In my account of the Nika I have followed Bury's chronology; Journ. of Hellen. Studies, 1897. The sources are sometimes in direct conflict, and have to be reconciled by collating them attentively.
[299] Jn. Malala, xviii, p. 438.
[300] Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 31.
[301] Jn. Malala, p. 477; Chron. Paschal., loc. cit.
[302] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 25.
[303] Tribonian oscillated between various posts. Now he came back as Master of the Offices (Cod., I, xvii, 2), but in 535 we again find him as Quaestor; Nov. xvii. In 545 he appears as Praefect of the City; Edict ix (heading queried).
[304] Nov., etc., passim.
[305] Procopius, De Aedif., v, 3.
[306] Theophanes, an. 6,025, but Malala puts it in 528 (p. 441).
[307] He was in a very exalted frame of mind at this time, e.g., "We have to thank God ... for having vouchsafed to us so many advantages and so great, beyond what He ever granted to our predecessors"; Nov. xxviii, 4; cf. Cod., I, xvii, 2, etc.
[308] See p. 132.
[309] He gives as his reason that the military Dukes and the civil governors were always quarrelling; Nov. xxiv, i; xxvi, praef. Thirteen Dukes are named in the Notitia, but under this change nine Rectors appear as officers of both sword and gown; Nov. viii; xxiv-xxviii; xxx; xxxi; xli; l; cf. Nov. xx.
[310] Nov. xxiv, 1; xxv, 1, etc.
[311] The new Proconsuls took their titles from Cappadocia, Armenia, and Palestine; Nov. xxx; xxxi; ciii. As Spectabiles, however, their precedence was only nominal, the Praetors, etc., being also of that grade.
[312] Cappadocia I, II; Nov. xxx. Palestine I, II; Nov. ciii. Libya I; II; Edict xiii, 19, 22, etc. Helenopontus to Pontus Polemoniacus, Nov. xxviii. (Here we get some geographical information as to the limits of the Empire on the N.E. J. remarks that Pityus and Sebastopolis are rather military outposts than towns proper.) Paphlagonia to Honorias; Nov. xxix. A peculiar enactment, apparently without precedent, was the creation of a "Praefect of the Islands" with civil and military command over five scattered provinces of both continents, viz., Scythia, Mysia, Caria, the Cyclades, and Cyprus; Nov. xli; l; see the remarks of Jn. Lydus on this appointment; op. cit., ii, 28. There seems also to have been a junction of Dardania and part of Macedonia; Nov. xi; cxxxi. For all we know the provinces may have been dealt with seriatim from first to last. Numberless Acts have been lost, as exemplified by the rescript of Anastasius discovered in the Cyrenaica, 1827, and that of Justin and Justinian in Pisidia, 1889, the former annotated by Zachariä (Sitz-Ber. d. Berlin. Akad., 1879, p. 134), and the latter by Diehl (École d'Ath., Bull. de Corr. Hel., 1893, p. 501.) It will be perceived that in these new arrangements there is something of a return to the regional dispositions of the early Empire; and, in fact, Justinian expresses himself in that sense more than once in these Acts (see p. 132).
[313] Paphlagonia; Nov. xxix. Arabia; Nov. cii. Palestine; Nov. ciii. Later Arabia was renamed Palestine III; Procopius, De Aedif., v, 8.
[314] 500 solidi (£280) was now the usual maximum; Nov. xxiv, 5, etc. But the proconsul of Palestine could decide as high as 10 lb. of gold (£400); Nov. ciii, 1.
[315] Nov. xxiv, 3; xxv, 4, etc.
[316] Nov. xxiv, 3; ciii, 1, etc. Probably they were so intent on embezzlement that they did not trouble about the externals of office.
[317] As "Proconsul Justinianus Cappadociae"; Nov. xxx, 5.
[318] The Vicar of Asia became Count of Phrygia Pacatiana; V. of Pontus, Count of Galatia I; Nov. viii, 2, 3; V. of Thrace, Praetor of Thrace; Nov. xxvi. The Vicar of Macedonia is not accounted for; perhaps his office was in abeyance owing to barbarian inroads.
[319] Nov. viii, 5.
[320] Edict xiii, praef. et seq.
[321] Nov. viii, praef., 17.
[322] Ibid.; Nov. xxiv, 1; xxv, 2, etc. His favourite and frequent expression.
[323] Nov. viii, 8; xvii, 1; xxv, 2, etc. The salaries allotted seem to be very small, e.g., Praetor of Pisidia, sol. 300 (£165), Count of Isauria, sol. 200 (£115), but the Moderator of Helenopontus gets sol. 725 (£410), the Proconsul of Cappadocia, 20 lb. of gold (£800), and for Palestine, the same.
[324] Nov. xvii, 5; xxiv, 1: xxv, 2.
[325] Nov. xxviii, 5; xxix, 4; xxx, 8, etc. Loss of the hands might also be inflicted.
[326] Nov. viii, 7, Jusjur.
[327] Nov. xvii, 16.
[328] Nov. viii, Ed.; lxxxvi, 2, 3, 4; cf. cxxviii, 16, 17, etc.
[329] Nov. xv.
[330] Ibid., 1, 5, etc.
[331] Nov. viii, 9; xcv; cxxviii, 23; see p. 202.
[332] Nov. xxviii, 7; xxx, 10.
[333] Nov. viii, 7; xxx, 9. The Defenders of the Cities are similarly cautioned; Nov. viii, 7, Edict 1.
[334] Nov. xv, 3, 6; lxxxvi, 7. The limit of his court was 300 solidi (£165). Generally the Bishops also had judicial functions, and like the rest are threatened, as not being always above suspicion; Ibid., 6. The clerics were instructed to resort to them in the first instance, and only afterwards to the civil judges if the question proved to be beyond their legal acquirements; Nov. lxxxiii; cf. lxxix.
[335] Nov. xxiii.
[336] Nov. lxxxii. A dozen of these pedanei judices are mentioned by name. In the capital they were mostly nobles, and of all ranks.
[337] Nov. lxxx. If they were proved to be idle or unemployed persons, work was to be found for them in the state factories, cripples and the aged excepted; Ibid., 6.
[338] Nov. xiii; cf. Procopius, Anecd., 20; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., ii, 30. Twenty soldiers and thirty matricarii (firemen?) were allotted to him. As we have seen (p. 81), there was from the first a regional band of the kind; but perhaps this new body was general and supervisional.
[339] Nov. xiv.
[340] Jn. Malala, xviii, p. 40; "five pieces of money," not aurei, but apparently coins of small value.
[341] Procopius, Anecd., 17; De Aedif., 1, 9.
[342] Nov. lxxvii; cxli; Procopius, Anecd., 16, 20, etc. They were subjected to amputation of the offending member and exhibited publicly in their mutilated condition; Jn. Malala, p. 430. Isaiah of Rhodes and Alexander of Diospolis are mentioned as Bishops thus treated. "Il leur fit couper les reins, qu'il fit exposer à un poteau.... Un héraut criait," etc. Michael Melit. (Langlois), p. 193. J. was remonstrated with on the cruelty of the procedure, whereupon he replied, "If they had committed sacrilege, would you not have cut off their hands?" Zonaras, xiv, 7.
[343] Nov. cxlii.
[344] Ibid.
[345] Nov. xxviii, 4; xxix, 5; xxx, 6, 11.
[346] Nov. viii, 8, 10; xxviii, 5.
[347] Nov. viii, 10.
[348] Nov., xxv, 11; cf. Cod., I, xvii, 2, etc.
[349] Nov. viii, 10.
[350] Ibid., 11.
[351] Ibid.
[352] Nov. viii, praef. This is his first great Reform Act, to which the rest are expletory. He opens by celebrating his public spirit and philanthropy. "Day and night alike we devote to lucubrations and cogitations respecting whatever may be of utility to our subjects, so that they may be able to live peacefully and free from all anxiety," etc. But he soon begins to let the cat out of the bag—"We find that many causes of injustice have crept in whereby our subjects are reduced to indigence, so that they cannot pay the proper tributes.... Protected from the oppression of the governors, they will thrive, and hence the state and treasury will overflow, having rich taxpayers at its disposal," etc.
[353] Procopius, Anecd., passim; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 57-70; Zonaras, xiv, 6.
[354] See pp. 198, 444 et seq.
[355] Nov., xxxi. Even the tract known as Armenia Minor, on the proximate bank of the river, which had long been an integral part of the Empire, was ruled by "Satraps" in an almost kingly fashion, and a semi-regal costume was permitted to them. Four were abolished by Zeno on account of disaffection (Procopius, De Aedif., iii, 1), and the very name was now rejected by Justinian as being "un-Roman."
[356] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., ii, 3.
[357] Procopius, Anecd., 24.
[358] Ibid., 20.
[359] Procopius, Anecd., 25.
[360] Ibid.
[361] Ibid. The rise in price was so great (nearly forty to one) as to be almost incomprehensible, but the manuscript was corrupt, and has been emended on conjecture by Alemannus. It appears, however, that the value of ordinary silk returned to what it was under Aurelian (see p. 133, its weight in gold), while the Imperial purple (holovera; cf. Cod. Theod., X, xxi; Cod., XI, ix) was rated at four times that amount.
[362] Procopius, Anecd., 26. The panis gradilis (see p. 81) was now abolished at Alexandria.
[363] See p. 147.
[364] Procopius, Anecd., 26.
[365] Ibid.
[366] Ibid. The text of the decree has not come down to us, but Basilius was the last Consul, and subsequently official documents are dated as "An. I, II, etc., post Basil." Yet only five years before Justinian drew up elaborate rules for the observance of the consular season: Nov. cv. Beginning from Jan. 1, he apportioned to each day of the week its quantum of processions with scattered largess, horse races, hunts with dogs in the amphitheatre, boxing and wrestling, man and beast fights, and theatrical displays in which the loose feminine element predominated.
[367] Procopius, Anecd., 25. He enacted that only 180 pence (follis, about 5-4d.) should now be given for the solidus, instead of 210, as formerly. See p. 122.
[368] Procopius, Anecd., 19-22. A particular impost called the "aerikon" (windfall) worked by the Praetorian Praefect, produced 3,000 pounds of gold (£120,000) annually. It seems to have been an income tax levied on governmental employees. Ibid., 21. The epibole (waste land tax; see p. 151; Cod. Theod., XIII, xi, 12; Cod., XI, lviii; Nov. clxv, etc.) was pushed to the most oppressive extreme in this reign. Ibid., 23. One special instance of the subterfuges resorted to for confiscating private property may be cited. A lady of Ascalon, married, inherited considerable wealth from her father, and subsequently as a widow, by the death of her only child, became heiress of her husband's property. Forthwith Justinian seized on the whole estate, declaring it iniquitous that the old lady, as she had now become, should be enriched by both father and husband. He, however, granted her a pension of one solidus a day, explaining that he did so "for the sake of piety, and because it is my custom to act in a holy and pious manner." Ibid., 29. Other examples in same chapter.
[369] Speaking of Egypt, he remarks that "matters have been so confounded down there that what is enacted in the province cannot be known here [CP.]"; Edict xiii, praef.
[370] In 548 he re-established the Vicar of Pontus on account of the ineradicable disorders. His jurisdiction included all the northern region of Asia Minor from the coast opposite CP. to the borders of Armenia. His task is, as usual, to restrain every sort of outrage on women and property, the culprits being men of all ranks, "priests, magistrates, nobles, and plebeians."—Edict viii. Command of the army is given him for the purpose. In 545, and even twenty years later, the injunction as to the fifty days' delay is still being launched at the Rectors; Nov. cxxviii, 23; clxi, 1. In 556 an all-round diatribe denounces the time-honoured malpractices of local rulers, the bishops even being included in the prohibitions; Nov. cxxxiv. Imperial decrees were generally accompanied by a threat that a fine of 10 pounds of gold (£400) and dismissal would be inflicted on the official to whom they were addressed, if he neglected to publish and give them full force; Nov. x, etc.
[371] Procopius, Anecd., 21.
[372] That Justinian and his consort were held in general detestation during the greater part of their reign by a majority of their subjects, who vented "curses, not loud, but deep" against them, appears to be indicated clearly by the expressions of Procopius. "Wherefore I, and most of my acquaintances, did not consider them to be human beings, but pernicious demons, such as the poets call vampires," etc.; Anecd., 12. "His mother is said to have told her friends that he was not the son of Sabbatius, nor of any man, but that before her pregnancy a species of demon came to her"; Ibid. "That he was not a man, but a demon in human form, any one could prove by the magnitude of the ills which he brought on the human race"; Ibid., 18. Jn. Lydus, however, always represents Justinian as being "good and kind," "long-suffering," etc., and as quite ignorant of the doings of John, who bullied his subordinates so that none of them would have dared to breathe a word against him; De Magistr., iii, 57, 69, etc. Lydus was a clerk in the civil service, who rose to be the head of a department, but he complains that he never received his pay; Ibid., 66, 67, etc.
[373] Procopius, Anecd., 23. He made no concessions whatever, according to our author, writing in 550. His first, and apparently his only, remission of arrears was, in fact, not made till 553; Nov. cxlvii. Malala (p. 437) records that in 528 he abolished some tax, a subsidy to the Gothic foederati. The defaulting tax-payer was put on a level with the homicide, and denied the right of sanctuary in a church; Nov. xvii, 7. To the Rectors he says, "You must see that exaction of the public tributes be decently effected, even in the Temples ... the ecclesiastics will aid you," etc.
[374] His fullest style is: "Imperator Caesar Flavius Justinianus, Alemannicus, Gothicus, Francicus, Germanicus, Lazicus, Alanicus, Vandalicus, Africanus, pius, felix, gloriosus, victor ac triumphator, nunquam non colendus Augustus"; Nov. xliii; cf. Chron. Paschal., an. 552, etc. If he could have added "Persicus" in the beginning of his reign, it would have been worth all the rest.