more grateful he was in the eyes of the people the more odious he became to Justinian and Theodora who no sooner had notice of the vertue and goodness of their Officers but they turned their thoughts wholly upon ways of removing them not being able to endure persons so opposite to their own natural temper Peter as I said before succeeding John in the management of the Treasury was the cause of a thousand miseries to particular persons having imbezled the Fund which of a long time had been raising by an antient and laudable custom for the relief of several poor families sending part of it to the Emperor and keeping the rest for himself whereby he acquired vast riches whilest they died with hunger who had nothing else to maintain them but those annual Contributions Besides which he coyned Money of Gold much less then the former and made it currant by Proclamation These in the Reign of Justinian were the persons who managed all the Offices and publick imployments I shall now speak of the methods which he used to ruine all people of estates though to exhibite their misery there needs in strictness no more then what I have spoken of the Governors of Provinces and Collectors who had private and peremptory instruction to ruine all people whose estates were in Land The Roman Emperors were formerly accustomed to remit to the people the arrears of such Money as was owing to the Exchequer that such of them as were unable to pay might not be in fear all their life long nor the Treasurers have opportunity to raise Money where many times it was not due But Justinian in Two and thirty years time was not guilty of one of those remissions the poor people were forced from their Houses and Countreys without any hopes of return whilest such as were honest were liable to calumniations and threatned perpetually to be complained of as not having paid what was due to the Emperor for their Taxes upon their Lands insomuch that the unfortunate Creatures were constrained to pass away their Lands to the Emperor or their Persecutors not so much out of apprehension of new Taxes as for the impossibility which they found to support long the unjust exactions which for many years together they had been forced to pay Moreover though the greatest part of Asia had been ruined by the Arms of the Sarazens and Persians and all Europe harassed and infested by the incursions of the Huns and Sclavonians the War of the Goths produced sacking and burning of Towns and devastations of Provinces though the Inhabitants were carried away prisoners with all that they had and those few who escaped the hands of the Barbarians were glad to forsake their Countrey and banish themselves Yet none of these considerations could work upon Justinian or prevail with him to remit one tribute or impost to any one Town in the whole Empire unless it was such as had been taken by the Enemy and in that case their exemption was but for a year whereas it he should have excused them for seven years together as his Predecessor Anastatius had done it would have been no great matter considering the great misery to which they were reduced In short Cabades invaded the Territories of the Emperor and returned every way Victorious but his Son Cosroes produc'd greater Consternation by Burning and Killing all where ever he passed with his Army And yet those of the East who had been exposed so often to the Incursions of the Huns the Persians and Sarazins and ruined by their Armies and the Romans who being setled in several parts of Europe had many times felt the Hostility of the Barbarians those I say who had suffered so much for their affection to the State found more cruelty in Justinian then among all the Barbarians his Edicts and Impositions compleating that Ruine which the Enemy had but begun I shall now recite what was the Contents of those Edicts Those whose Estates were in Land were by them obliged to furnish a certain quantity of Provisions for the Souldiers at their own Charges every Man paying his part nor did they consider what was given according to the Prizes of things but according to a former Assesment made a long time before and if at any time they were so unfortunate not to have so much Cattle or Forrage upon their Lands as would satisfie for their share they were constrained to buy them at any rate and convey them from the Provincial Magazines which were very far off to the place where the Troops were in Garrison and then deliver them in what quantity and at what rate the Officers pleased and not according to what was reasonable and just This Impost was called the Impost of Victuals by which those who had Lands paid ten times greater Tribute then formerly so that really it was taking from them so much Blood out of their Veins being obliged to carry their Corn to Constantinople after they had suffered so much by quartering the Army These disorders and oppressions the State owes to Barzames and John de Cappadocia whom their Successors imitated exactly in the Continuation of their Crime And so much for the Tax called the Impost of Victuals The Impositions were like a Plague which came suddenly upon those whose Estates were in Land and took from them not only the hopes of living tolerably well but the means of continuing their Life as miserable as it was For though the Lands were all thrown up and deserted by the Ruine or Flight of the Owners or their Tenants who were either Killed or Frighted out of their Country or else hid themselves to avoid Persecution Justinian without any reluctance exacted these Impositions which were very frequent in his time I conclude in few words the Taxes call the Descriptions were imposed to repair the Losses which the Cities had brought upon such as were proprietors in the Country But it would be an infinite Trouble to undertake an Account of all the Evil Effects which ensued upon these Taxes or the idle and trivial pretences upon which they were Imposed for the Miseries of the People increased daily and though the Inhabitants in the Country were most of them dead of the Plague which the Roman Empire was no less afflicted at that time then the other parts of the World and though the Contagion was so universal the Fields and the Farms lay uninhabited and untilled Justinian never made the least Abatement in his Duties and Imposts that he had Established on the contrary he constrained with great severity those who were alive to pay the proportions of such of their Neighbors as were Dead of the Infection In short their finest and richest Apartments they gave for Quarters to the Souldiers treating them with all possible liberality and civility whilst they were glad to make shift with any by place or stinking hole to lye in themselves In this manner things passed in the Reign of Justinian and Theodora who though they were but
and walk about the Chamber and that in a short time his head disappeared and yet the Trunk walked on and that whilest he was in an amaze and ready to have distrusted his own eyes of which he began to be jealous he saw the head return and joyn it self to the body Another declared That as he was in the presence of Justinian he saw the head of that Prince change on a sudden into a mass and confused lump of flesh where he could not distinguish eyes or nose or any other marks of a face This I write not of my own knowledge but I had it from persons who assured me it was true and they had seen it with their own eyes It was reported That there was a Fryer of a most exemplary life and of great eminence for it who at the solicitation of his Brethren in the same Monastery came to Constantinople with design of speaking to the Emperor for the ease of the Neighborhood which was undone by his tyranny and oppression That when he arrived he entred into the Palace and the Emperors Apartment with as much ease as he could desire but as soon as he came near his person he started from him and returned to his Monastery in great hast and confusion without being able to answer the Ushers and other Officers who pressed him to stay and demanded what it was he feared But being questioned by the Monks be told them That he saw Lucifer sitting upon the Throne of the Empire and that he had not power to accost or say any thing to him And indeed who would not have taken for an evil spirit or at least for a fury a Man who though he loved more Women then any Man living and that to the very height of lasciviousness and debauchery yet he scarce eat or drank or slept at any time but having tasted and sipped of what was brought to the Table he walked about the Palace all the night after As to Theodora those who had lain with her when she was a Comedian declared That whilest they were in Bed with her in the night there came spirits into the Room and frighted them away There was a young Wench which danced well belonging to the Venetes of Antioch and called the Macedonian who having great power with Justin she writ to her and made her an instrument in the death of many of the principal Officers in the East and in the confiscation of their Goods This Macedonian hearing Theodora complaining at her return from Egypt and Africk of the ill treatment she had received from Hecebolus and of a loss she had sustained in her journey of a considerable sum of Money telling her by way of consolation That Fortune as she had taken them away might when she pleased return them in greater plenty Theodora replied That she was not troubled in the least for the night before she had seen a vision which had bid her not concern her self and told her That as soon as she should come to Constantinople she should be admitted to the Emperors Bed and that by assistance which she should receive she should marry him and be put into possession of as much wealth as she could desire And this was the common report upon that subject Justinian though he was as I have described was of so easie access and so civil in all his receptions that no man was ever denied to speak with him nor did he seem ever provoked or discomposed when any person failed in their respects toward him either by word or deed The ruine and misery which he was preparing for other people never made any alteration in him He never expressed any Passion nor the least resentment against those he had destined to destruction but with a countenance peaceable and serene and a voice without any commotion he appointed the murders of an infinite multitude of innocent persons the sacking of several Towns and confiscation of Estates In a word by his looks no man but would have taken him for the gentlest the most affable and best natured Man in the World But if any one come to implore his mercy oâ—â—…o expostulate in behalf of one that was oppressed then it was he would be angry his colour rise and his indignation against his subjects appear He favored the Priests who tormented their Neighbors he gave any man thanks who possessed himself of his Neighbors estate and believed he did an act that was highly meritorious When any controversie was brought before him he believed himself bound in Conscience to decide it in favor of the Defendant especially if he had invaded the others estate under pretence That it belonged to the Church in that case he thought he could not he unjust let him do what he would provided the cause went for the Ecclesiasticks He himself gave to the Church several Lands that he had usurped from other people whether the lawful Proprietors were living or dead to cover his impiety under the mask of devotion and procure that the right owners should never be restored to them again and many murders he committed under the pretence of Piety and Religion He endeavored likewise with great industry That all people under his Dominion should be uniform in Matters of Religion in order to which he put many a man to death as not believing it homicide to kill any of a perswasion contrary to his own In short he took so much delight in the destruction of his People that he was perpetually at Theodora not to suffer any opportunity to escape her but rather to set her Brains a work to invent new for having the same Passions their Actions were the same their Conduct the same and their Wickedness the same though they pretended great difference betwixt themselves but it was only to set their subjects at difference Justinians humor was as uncertain as the Wind it was to be turned which way one pleased only he was not to be turned from doing mischeif nor kept from showing most infamous avarice He was a great lover of flattery and loved them highly who perswaded him he should be taken up into the Heavens one day and traverse the Air and the Celestial Spheres Tribonian was with him upon a time and told him That he was in great fear least he should be rapt up suddenly into the Heavens when he little thought of it and all for his singular Piety And the poor Emperor was so weak as to believe That that flattery or rather mockery had something in it that might be true If he had had experience of any mans vertue he would be sure to discommend him ever after and to repreâ—ent him a mischievous and perfidious man and yet he had no sooner spoke ill of a man but he praised him immediately passing inconsiderately from one extream to another because the Characters which he gave did not many times consist with what he desired other people should believe His impressions of hatred or love I suppose I have
to sell under Eight gold pieces a pound of Silk with consiscation of Goods and loss of Estate to any that should disobey This appearing altogether unreasonable to the Merchant who could not afford his Commodities which cost him much dearer at the usual rate he chose rather to give over and trade no more Whereupon several of them gave away secretly all the remainder of their Wares to such of their friends as delighted in such unnecessary expences and loved to appear glorious in the World or to such as had any other occasion for them but as privately as they carried it a rumor was spread abroad no body knew from Whence which coming to the Ears of Theodora she fined the Merchants an hundred pound in Gold and seized upon their Silks into the bargain At present there is none but the grand Treasurer who can licence that Manufactory in Which Perzames who had that Office was permitted to play a thousand juggling tricks In effect he took the Workmen to himself constrained them to work only for him and would not suffer them to deal with any body else besides he sold publickly in the Ware-houses which he had set up an ounce of any coloured Silk for six pieces of Gold but if it were in Grain or the Colour Royal which they called Holovere he sold it for four and twenty so that by these unconscionable wayes he raised vast Summes of Money for the Emperor besides his own ships which he kept very private and were supposed as considerable as the other and this trade he drives to this day with prohibition to every body else For this cause the Merchants both in Constantinople and other Citys resented highly their usage and the loss which they sustained by the ruin of their Workmen And for as much as in Tyre and Beryte most of the popular subsisted by that sort of Manufactory they were brought to a necessity of begging the charity of good people or starving with hunger and misery And those few who escaped quitted their own Countrey and fled among the Parthians for as I said before none but the Treasurer-General of the Empire was permitted to meddle in that commodity and he returning a small part of his gains to the Emperor kept the greatest to himself raising a prodigious estate out of the ruins of the people and his happiness out of the Calamities of the State but enough of this I shall now proceed and give an account how he despoild Constantinople and the other Towns of all their Ornaments His first designe was against the Lawyers whom he resolved utterly to undo lessening their fees and forbiding gratuities though after the Cause was determined which were commonly very considerable In all Suits that were depending he caused decision to be made by oath which rendred the Lawyers useless and contemptible to their great prejudice and displeasure Moreover from the time in which Justinian made bold with the Senators and seized upon their Estates and other great Citizens in Constantinople which were as Wealthy as they the Advocates and Lawyers were become very inconsiderable as not having Work for any one Hearing so that they whose number and esteem was formerly very great were now grown but few and they not only despised by all the World but destitute of all Necessaries having nothing left them but their old Institution to distinguish them from other people Nor was Justinians Malice peculiar to the Lawyers the same kind of Severity he used upon the Physitians and all other Professors of Learning retrenching their Fees and taking away their Pensions which had been given by the Primitive Emperors and payd constantly As to the Revenue of every Town which had been given by their Predecessors for Exhibition of publick shows or supplying publick Necessities he made no Bones to ingross them to himself by which means the Physitians and other Learned Professors lost their subsistance No publick Buildings were Erected no Lights in the Night for the convenience of Passengers No Feasting nor rejoycing among the Citizens baiting of wild Beasts Comedies and the pastimes of the Cyreus were layd aside along time by Justinian whose Wife had been bred and advanced from those very Theaters which he destroyed at length when he had put down these shews in all the other Cities he suppressed them in Constantinople and all to save the Money which he was thereby necessitated annually to disburse without the least regard or consideration that he would starve an infinite number of poor people whose subsistance depended wholly upon those kind of things So that in a manner the whole world was invalu'd in and depressed with extream sadness as well publick Societies as particular persons every Man passing his time without any Diversion and groaning under his Misfortune as heavy and immoveable To be short their Discourse and Communication at home in the Streets in the Churches and every where was nothing but of the Miseries the Calamities of that age and the sad and deplorable condition of their present Affairs and this was the manner in which he Treated the Cities but now it is necessary I say something of what followed and so compleat this History It was a Custom to create every year two Consuls one at Rome the other at Constantinople whoever was advanced to that Dignity was obliged at his Entrance to an Expence of two thousand pound in Gold a small part of it was generally his own Money but the greatest part was from the liberality of the Prince and this Money which the Consuls commonly imploy'd in Presents that were to be given upon their admission or to the poor or in Gifts to the Comedians was of great Relief to those Cities and helped well towards the subsistance of the people But since Justinian came to the Empire no certain time was kept for the Election of the said Consuls the same persons being continued several years and no Assemblies allowed for the Creation of new so that all people were fallen into extream Misery the Emperor not only retained in his own hand what was wont to be distributed among his Subjects but robb'd and dispossessed them of what they had of their own in all places and by all ways imaginable I suppose I have said enough of the Violences which he used in his administration of the publick Moneys as also when he sequestred the Estates of the whole Senate and every particular Member therein with which he cramm'd his own Coffers but could not satiate his Mind as like wise in the descriptions of the Arts and. Calumnies which he used to get the Estates of all rich Men into his hands his Tyranny and the sad effects of it upon the Emperors Guards and other Domesticks his cruelty to the Common Souldiers of his Army and of his particular Guards To the Inhabitants of the Country To the Proprietors of the Land To the Professors of Sciences Merchants Masters of Ships Seamen Carryers Messengers Mechanicks Comedians Lawyers Officers of Justice