Till startsidan

Procopius:

 

The Secret History (Anekdota)

 

____________________________

 

 

 CONTENTS

 

 * By the Historian

 

1. How the Great General Belisarius Was Hoodwinked by His Wife

2. How Belated Jealousy Affected Belisarius's Military Judgment

3. Showing the Danger of Interfering with a Woman's Intrigues

4. How Theodora Humiliated the Conqueror of Africa and Italy

5. How Theodora Tricked the General's Daughter

6. Ignorance of the Emperor Justin, and How His Nephew Justinian Was

the Virtual Ruler

7. Outrages of the Blues

8. Character and Appearance of Justinian

9. How Theodora, Most Depraved of All Courtesans, Won His Love

  10. How Justinian Created a New Law Permitting Him to Marry a Courtesan

  11. How the Defender of the Faith Ruined His Subjects

  12. Proving That Justinian and Theodora Were Actually Fiends in Human

Form

  13. Perceptive Affability and Piety of a Tyrant

  14. Justice for Sale

  15. How All Roman Citizens Became Slaves

  16. What Happened to Those Who Fell Out of Favor with Theodora

  17. How She Saved Five Hundred Harlots from a Life of Sin

  18. How Justinian Killed a Trillion People

  19. How He Seized All the Wealth of the Romans and Threw It Away

  20. Debasing of the Quaestorship

  21. The Sky Tax, and How Border Armies Were Forbidden to Punish

Invading Barbarians

  22. Further Corruption in High Places

  23. How Landowners Were Ruined

  24. Unjust Treatment of the Soldiers

  25. How He Robbed His Own Officials

  26. How He Spoiled the Beauty of the Cities and Plundered the Poor

  27. How the Defender of the Faith Protected the Interests of the

Christians

  28. His Violation of the Laws of the Romans and How Jews Were Fined

for Eating Lamb

  29. Other Incidents Revealing Him as a Liar and a Hypocrite

  30. Further Innovations of Justinian and Theodora, and a Conclusion

 

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BY THE HISTORIAN

 

In what I have written on the Roman wars up to the present point, the

story was arranged in chronological order and as completely as the times

then permitted. What I shall write now follows a different plan,

supplementing the previous formal chronicle with a disclosure of what

really happened throughout the Roman Empire. You see, it was not

possible, during the life of certain persons, to write the truth of what

they did, as a historian should. If I had, their hordes of spies would

have found out about it, and they would have put me to a most horrible

death. I could not even trust my nearest relatives. That is why I was

compelled to hide the real explanation of many matters glossed over in

my previous books.

 

These secrets it is now my duty to tell and reveal the remaining hidden

matters and motives. Yet when I approach this different task, I find it

hard indeed to have to stammer and retract what I have written before

about the lives of Justinian and Theodora. Worse yet, it occurs to me

that what I am now about to tell will seem neither probable nor

plausible to future generations, especially as time flows on and my

story becomes ancient history. I fear they may think me a writer of

fiction, and even put me among the poets.

 

However, I have this much to cheer me, that my account will not be

unendorsed by other testimony: so I shall not shrink from the duty of

completing this work. For the men of today, who know best the truth of

these matters, will be trustworthy witnesses to posterity of the

accuracy of my evidence.

 

Still another thing for a long time deferred my passion to relieve

myself of this untold tale. For I wondered if it might be prejudicial to

future generations, and the wickedness of these deeds had not best

remain unknown to later times: lest future tyrants, hearing, might

emulate them. It is deplorably natural that most monarchs mimic the sins

of their predecessors and are most readily disposed to turn to the evils

of the past.

 

But, finally, I was again constrained to proceed with this history, for

the reason that future tyrants may see also that those who thus err

cannot avoid retribution in the end, since the persons of whom I write

suffered that judgment. Furthermore, the disclosure of these actions and

tempers will be published for all time, and in consequence others will

perhaps feel less urge to transgress.

 

For who now would know of the unchastened life of Semiramis or the

madness of Sardanapalus or Nero, if the record had not thus been written

by men of their own times? Besides, even those who suffer similarly

'-from later tyrants will not find this narrative quite unprofitable.

For the miserable find comfort in the philosophy that not on them alone

has evil fallen.

 

Accordingly, I begin the tale. First I shall reveal the folly of

Belisarius, and then the depravity of Justinian and Theodora.

 

 

1. HOW THE GREAT GENERAL BELISARIUS WAS HOODWINKED BY HIS WIFE

 

The father of Belisarius's wife, a lady whom I have mentioned in my

former books, was (and so was her grandfather) a charioteer, exhibiting

that trade in Constantinople and Thessalonica. Her mother was one of the

wenches of the theater; and she herself from the first led an utterly

wanton life. Acquainted with magic drugs used by her parents before her,

she learned how to use those of compelling qualities and became the

wedded wife of Belisarius, after having already borne many children.

 

Now she was unfaithful as a wife from the start, but was careful to

conceal her indiscretions by the usual precautions; not from any awe of

her spouse (for she never felt any shame at anything) and fooled him

easily with her deceptions), but because she feared the punishment of

the Empress. For Theodora hated her, and had already shown her teeth.

But when that Queen became involved in difficulties, she won her

friendship by helping her, first to destroy Silverius, as shall be

related presently, and later to ruin John of Cappadocia, as I have told

elsewhere. After that, she became more and more fearless, and casting

all concealment aside, abandoned herself to the winds of desire.

 

There was a youth from Thrace in the house of Belisarius: Theodosius by

name, and of the Eunomian heresy by descent. On the eve of his

expedition to Libya, Belisarius baptized this boy in holy water and

received him in his arms as a member henceforth of the family, welcoming

him with his wife as their son, according to the Christian rite of

adoption. And Antonina not only embraced Theodosius with reasonable

fondness as her son by holy word, and thus cared for him, but soon,

while her husband was away on his campaign, became wildly in love with

him; and, out of her senses with this malady, shook off all fear and

shame of God and man. She began by enjoying him surreptitiously, and

ended by dallying with him in the presence of the men servants and

waiting maids. For she was now possessed by passion and, openly

overwhelmed with love, could see no hindrance to its consummation.

 

Once, in Carthage, Belisarius caught her in the very act, but allowed

himself to be deceived by his wife. Finding the two in an underground

room, he was very angry; but she said, showing no fear or attempt to

keep anything hidden, "I came here with the boy to bury the most

precious part of our plunder, where the Emperor will not discover it."

So she said by way of excuse, and he dismissed the matter as if he

believed her, even as he saw Theodosius's trousers belt somewhat

unmodestly unfastened. For so bound by love for the woman was he, that

he preferred to distrust the evidence of his own eyes.

 

As her folly progressed to an indescribable extent, those who saw what

was going on kept silent, except one slave, Macedonia by name. When

Belisarius was in Syracuse as the conqueror of Sicily, she made her

master swear solemnly never to betray her to her mistress, and then told

him the whole story, presenting s witnesses two slave boys attending the

bed-chamber.

 

When he heard this, Belisarius ordered one of his guards to put

Theodosius away; but the latter learned of this in time to flee to

Ephesus. For most of the servants, inspired by the weakness of the

husband's character, were more anxious to please his wife than to show

loyalty to him, and so betrayed the order he had given. But Constantine,

when he saw Belisarius's grief at what had befallen him, sympathized

entirely except to comment, "I would have tried to kill the woman rather

than the young man." Antonina heard of this, and hated him in secret.

How malicious was her spite against him shall be shown; for she was a

scorpion who could hide her sting.

 

But not long after this, by the enchantment either of philtres or of her

caresses, she persuaded her husband that the charges against her were

untrue. Without more ado he sent word to Theodosius to return, and

promised to turn Macedonia and the two slave boys over to his wife. She

first cruelly cut out their tongues, it is said, and then cut their

bodies into little bits which were put into sacks and thrown into the

sea. One of her slaves, Eugenius, who had already wrought the outrage on

Silverius, helped her in this crime.

 

And it was not long after this that Belisarius was persuaded by his wife

to kill Constantine. What happened at that time concerning Presidius and

the daggers I have narrated in my previous books. For while Belisarius

would have preferred to let Constantine alone, Antonina gave him no

peace until his remark, which I have just repeated, was avenged. And as

a result of this murder, much enmity was aroused against Belisarius in

the hearts of the Emperor and all the most important of the Romans.

 

So matters progressed. But Theodosius said he was unable to return to

Italy, where Belisarius and Antonina were now staying, unless Photius

were put out of the way. For this Photius was the sort who would bite if

anyone got the better of him in anything, and he had reason to be choked

with indignation at Theodosius. Though he was the rightful son, he was

utterly disregarded while the other grew in power and riches: they say

that from the two palaces at Carthage and Ravenna Theodosius had taken

plunder amounting to a hundred centenaries, as he alone had been given

the management of these conquered properties.

 

But Antonina, when she learned of Theodosius's fear, never ceased laying

snares for her son and planning deadly plots against his welfare, until

he saw he would have to escape to Constantinople if he wished to live.

Then Theodosius came to Italy and her. There they stayed in the

satisfaction of their love, unhindered by the complaisant husband; and

later she took them both to Constantinople. There Theodosius became so

worried lest the affair became generally known, that he was at his wit's

end. He saw it would be impossible to fool everybody, as the woman was

no longer able to conceal her passion and indulge it secretly, but

thought nothing of being in fact and in reputation an avowed adulteress.

 

Therefore he went back to Ephesus, and having his head shaved after the

religious custom, became a monk. Whereupon Antonina, insane over her

loss, exhibited her grief by donning mourning; and went around the house

shrieking and wailing, lamenting even in the presence of her husband

what a good friend she had lost, how faithful, how tender, how loving,

how energetic! In the end, even her spouse was won over to join in her

sorrow. And so the poor wretch wept too, calling for his beloved

Theodosius. Later he even went to the Emperor and implored both him and

the Empress, till they consented to summon Theodosius to return, as one

who was and would always be a necessity in the house of Belisarius.

 

But Theodosius refused to leave his monastery, saying he was completely

resolved to give himself forever to the cloistered life. This noble

pronouncement, however, was not entirely sincere, for he was aware that

as soon as Belisarius left Constantinople, it would be possible for him

to come secretly to Antonina. Which, indeed, he did.

 

 

2. HOW BELATED JEALOUSY AFFECTED BELISARIUS'S MILITARY JUDGMENT

 

For soon Belisarius went off to war on Chosroes, and he took Photius

with him; but Antonina remained behind, though this was contrary to her

usual habit. She had always preferred to voyage wherever her husband

went, lest he, being alone, come to his senses and, forgetting her

enchantments, think of her for once as she deserved. But now, so that

Theodosius might have free access to her, she planned once more how to

rid herself permanently of Photius. She bribed some of Belisarius's

guards to slander and insult her son at all times; while she, writing

letters almost every day, denounced him, and thus set everything in

motion against him. Compelled by all of this to counterplot against his

mother, Photius got a witness to come from Constantinople with evidence

of Theodosius's commerce with Antonina, took him to Belisarius, and

commanded him to tell the whole story.

 

When Belisarius heard it, he became passionately angry, fell at

Photius's feet, kissed them, and begged him to revenge one who had been

so wronged by those who should least have treated him thus. "My dearest

boy," he said, "your father, whoever he was, you have never known, for

he left you at your mother's breast when the sands of his life were

measured. Nor have you even benefited from his estate, since he was not

overblessed with wealth. But brought up by me, though I was only your

stepfather, you have arrived at an age where it becomes you to avenge my

wrongs. I, who have raised you to consular rank, and given you the

opportunity of acquiring such riches, might call myself your father and

mother and entire kindred, and I would be right, my son. For it is not

by their kinship of blood, but by their friendly deeds that men are wont

to measure their bonds to one another.

 

"Now the hour has come, when you must not only look on me in the ruin of

my household and the loss of my greatest treasure, but as one sharing

the shame of your mother in the reproach of all mankind. And consider

too, that the sins of women injure not only their husbands, but touch

even more bitterly their children, whose reputation suffers the greater

from this reason, that they are expected to inherit the disposition of

those who bore them.

 

"Yet remember this of me, that I still love my wife exceedingly well;

and if it is in my power to punish the ruiner of my house, to her I

shall do no hurt. But while Theodosius is present, I cannot condone this

charge against her."

 

When he had heard this, Photius agreed to serve him in everything; but

at the same time he was afraid lest some trouble might come to himself

from it, for he had little confidence in Belisarius's strength of will,

where his wife was concerned. And among other unhappy possibilities, he

remembered with distaste what had happened to Macedonia. So he had

Belisarius exchange with him all the oaths that are held most sacred and

binding among Christians, and each swore never to betray the other, even

in the most mortal peril.

 

Now for the present they decided the time had not yet come to take

action. But as soon as Antonina should arrive from Constantinople and

Theodosius return to Ephesus, Photius was to go to Ephesus and dispose

without difficulty of Theodosius and his property.

 

It was at this time that they had invaded the Persian country with the

entire army, and there occurred to John of Cappadocia what is reported

in my previous works. There I had to hush up one matter out of prudence,

namely, that it was not without malice aforethought that Antonina

deceived John and his daughter, but by many oaths, than which none is

more reverenced by the Christians, she induced them to trust her as one

who would never use them ill. After she had done this, feeling more

confident than before of the friendship of the Empress, she sent

Theodosius to Ephesus, and herself, with no suspicion of opposition, set

out for the East.

 

Belisarius had just taken the fort of Sisauranum when the news of her

coming was brought to him; and he, setting everything else as nothing in

comparison, ordered the army to retire. It so happened, as I have shown

elsewhere, that other things had occurred to the expedition which fitted

in with his order to withdraw, however, as I said in the foreword to

this book, it was not safe for me at that time to tell all the

underlying motives of these events. Accusation was consequently made

against Belisarius by all the Romans that he had put the most urgent

affairs of state below the lesser interests of his personal household.

For the fact was that, possessed with jealous passion for his wife, he

was unwilling to go far away from Roman territory, so that as soon as he

should learn his wife was coming from Constantinople, he could

immediately seize her and avenge himself on Theodosius.

 

For this reason he ordered the forces under Arethas to cross the Tigris

River; and they returned home, having accomplished nothing worthy of

mention. And he himself was careful not to leave the Roman frontier for

much more than a one hour's ride. Indeed, the fort of Sisauranum, going

by way of the city of Nisibis, is not more than a day's journey for a

well-mounted man from the Roman border; and by another route is only

half that distance. Yet if he had been willing in the beginning to cross

the Tigris with his entire army, I believe he could have taken all the

plunder in the land of Assyria, and marched as far as the city of

Ctesiphon, with none to hinder him. And he could have rescued the

captured Antiochans and whatever other Romans misfortune had brought

there, and restored them to their native lands.

 

Furthermore, he was culpable for Chosroes's unhindered return home from

Colchis. How this happened I shall now reveal. When Chosroes, Cabades's

son, invading the land of Colchis, accomplished not only what I have

elsewhere narrated, but captured Petra, a great part of the army of the

Medes was destroyed, either in battle or because of the difficulty of

the country. For Lazica, as I have explained, is almost roadless and

very mountainous. Also pestilence, falling upon them, had destroyed most

of -the army, and many had died from lack of necessary food and

treatment. It was at this time that messengers came from Persia with

news that Belisarius, having conquered Nabedes in battle before the city

of Nisibis, was approaching; that he had taken the fort of Sisauranum by

siege, captured at the point of the spear Bleschames and eight hundred

Persian cavalry; and that he had sent a second army of Romans under

Arethas, ruler of the Saracens, to cross the Tigris and ravage all the

land there that heretofore had not known fear.

 

It happened also that the army of Huns which Chosroes had sent into

Roman Armenia, to create a diversion there so that the Romans would not

notice his expedition into Lazica, had fallen into the hands of Valerian

and his Romans, as other messengers now reported; and that these

barbarians had been badly beaten in battle, and most of them killed.

When the Persians heard this, already in low spirits over their ill

fortune among the Lazi, they now feared if they should meet a hostile

army in their present difficulties, among precipices and wilderness,

they would all perish in disorder. And they feared, too, for their

children and their wives and their country; indeed, the noblest men in

the army of the Medes reviled Chosroes, calling him one who had broken

his plighted word and the common law of man, by invading in time of

peace the land of the Romans. He had wronged, they cried, the oldest and

greatest of all nations, which he could not possibly surpass in war. A

mutiny was imminent.

 

Aroused at this, Chosroes found the following remedy for the trouble. He

read them a letter which the Empress had recently written to Zaberganes.

This was the letter:

 

"How highly I esteem you, Zaberganes, and that I believe you friendly to

our State, you, who were ambassador to us not so long ago, are well

aware. Would you not be acting suitably to this high opinion which I

have for you, if you could persuade King Chosroes to choose peace with

our government? If you do this, I can promise you will be rewarded by my

husband, who does nothing without my advice."

 

Chosroes read this aloud, and asked the Persian leaders if they thought

this was an Empire which a woman managed. Thus he calmed their

nervousness. But even so, he withdrew from the place with considerable

anxiety, thinking that at any moment Belisarius's forces would confront

him. And when none of the enemy appeared to bar his retreat, with great

relief he marched back to his native land.

 

 

3. SHOWING THE DANGER OF INTERFERING WITH A WOMAN'S INTRIGUES

 

On his return to Roman territory, Belisarius found his wife just

arriving from Constantinople. He put her under guard in disgrace, and

often was on the point of putting her to death; but each time he

weakened, overcome, I suppose, by the rekindling of his love for her.

But they say he was also driven from his senses by philtres she gave. him.

 

Meanwhile the outraged Photius had gone to Ephesus, taking the eunuch

Calligonus, pander for his mistress, with him, in chains; and under the

whip, during the course of his journey Calligonus confessed all his

lady's secrets. But Theodosius again learned of his peril, and fled to

the Church of St. John the Apostle, which is the holiest and most

revered sanctuary thereabouts. However Andrew, Bishop of Ephesus, was

bribed by Photius to give the man up into his hands.

 

Theodora was now in some fear for Antonina, for she had heard what had

happened to her; so she sent word to Belisarius to bring his wife to

Constantinople. Photius, hearing of this, sent Theodosius to Cilicia,

where his own lancers and shield-bearers happened to be wintering;

enjoining upon those who took him thither to do so as secretly as

possible, and on arriving in Cilicia to hide him privately in the

garrison, letting no one know where in the world he was. Then, with

Calligonus and Theodosius's considerable moneys, Photius went to

Constantinople.

 

Now the Empress gave evidence to all mankind that for every murder to

which she was indebted, she could pay in greater and even more savage

requital. For Antonina had betrayed for her one enemy, when she had

lately ensnared the Cappadocian; but she ruined, for Antonina's sake, a

number of blameless men. Some of Belisarius's and Photius's

acquaintances she put to the torture, when the only charge against them

was that they were friends of the two (and to this day we do not know

what was their ultimate fate), and others she banished into exile on the

same accusation.

 

One man who had accompanied Photius to Ephesus, a Senator who was also

named Theodosius, not only lost his property but was thrown into a

dungeon, where he was, fastened to a manger by a rope around his neck so

short that the noose was always tight and could not be slackened.

Consequently the poor man had to stand at the manger all the time,

whether he ate or sought sleep or performed the other needs of the body.

The only difference between him and an ass, was that . he could not

bray. The time the man passed in this condition was not less than four

months; after which, overcome by melancholy, he went mad, and as such

they set him free to die.

 

The reluctant Belisarius she forced to become reconciled with his wife;

while Photius, after she had him tortured like a slave and scourged on

the back and shoulders, was ordered to tell where Theodosius and the

pander were. But in spite of his anguish at the torture he kept silent

as he had sworn to do; though he had always been delicate and sickly,

had had to be very careful of his health, and was hitherto inexperienced

in such outrage and ill treatment. Yet none of Belisarius's secrets did

he divulge.

 

Later, however, everything that up to this time had been concealed came

to light. Discovering Calligonus in the neighborhood, Theodora handed

him over to Antonina, and then had Theodosius brought back to

Constantinople, where she hid him in her palace. On the day after his

arrival she sent for Antonina. "My dearest lady," she said, "a pearl

fell into my hands yesterday, such a one as no mortal has ever seen. If

you wish, I will not grudge you a sight of this jewel, but will show it

to you." Not knowing what had happened, her friend begged Theodora to

show her the pearl; and the Empress, leading Theodosius from the rooms

of one of the eunuchs, revealed him.

 

For a moment Antonina, speechless with joy, remained dumb. Then she

broke into an ecstasy of gratitude, and called Theodora her saviour, her

benefactress, and her true mistress. Thereafter, the Empress kept

Theodosius in the palace, wrapping him in every luxury, and declared she

would even make him general of all the Roman forces before long.

justice, however, intervened. Carried off by a dysentery, he disappeared

from the world of men.

 

Now in Theodora's palace were certain secret dungeon rooms: dark,

unknown, and remote, wherein there was no difference between day and

night. In one of these Photius languished for a long time. He had the

good fortune, however, to escape, not once, but twice. The first time he

took refuge in the Church of the Virgin Mother, which is the most holy

and famous of the churches in Constantinople, and there took his place

at the sacred table as a suppliant. But she captured him even here, and

had him removed by force. The second time he fled to the Church of St.

Sophia and sought sanctuary at the holy font, which of all places the

Christians most reverence. Yet even from here the woman was able to drag

him: for to her no spot was too awful or venerable to transgress, and

she thought nothing of violating all the sanctuaries put together. Like

all the rest of the people, the Christian priests were struck dumb with

horror, but stood to one side and suffered her to do as she willed.

 

Now for three years Photius remained thus in his cell; and then the

prophet Zechariah came to him in a dream, and ordered him in the name of

the Lord to escape, promising to aid him in this. Trusting in the

vision, he broke loose again, and unnoticed by anyone made his way to

Jerusalem. Though he passed through countless thousands of men on his

flight, not one of them saw the youth. There he shaved his head, assumed

the garb of the monks, and was free at last from the punishment of

Theodora.

 

But Belisarius, disregarding his word of honor, took no measures to

avenge his accomplice's suffering of such impious treatment as has been

told. And all of his military expeditions from this time on- failed,

presumably by the will of God- For his next campaign against Chosroes

and the Medes, who were for the third time invading Roman territory, was

severely criticized; though one good thing was said of him, that he had

driven the foe back. But when Chosroes crossed the Euphrates River, took

the great city of Callinicus without a battle, and enslaved myriads of

Roman citizens, while Belisarius was careful not even to pursue the

enemy when he retired, he won the reputation of being one of two

things-either a traitor or a coward.

 

 

4. HOW THEODORA HUMILIATED THE CONQUEROR OF AFRICA AND ITALY

 

Soon after this, a further disaster befell him. The plague, which I have

described elsewhere, became epidemic at Constantinople, and the Emperor

Justinian was taken grievously ill; it was even said he had died of it.

Rumor spread this report till it reached the Roman army camp. There some

of the officers said that if the Romans tried to establish anyone else

at Constantinople as Emperor, they would never recognize him. Presently,

the Emperor's health bettered, and the officers of the army brought

charges against each other, the generals Peter and John the Glutton

alleging they had heard Belisarius and Buzes making the above declaration.

 

This hypothetical mutiny the indignant Queen took as intended by the two

men to refer to herself. So she recalled all the officers to

Constantinople to investigate the matter; and she summoned Buzes

impromptu to her private quarters, on the pretext she wished to discuss

with him matters of sudden urgency.

 

Now underneath the palace was an underground cellar, secure and

labyrinthian, comparable to the infernal regions, in which most of those

who gave offense to her were eventually entombed. And so Buzes was

thrown into this oubliette, and there the man, though of consular rank,

remained with no one cognizant of his fate. Neither, as he sat there in

darkness, could he ever know whether it was day or night, nor could he

learn from anyone else; for the man who each day threw him his food was

dumb, and the scene was that of one wild beast confronting another.

Everybody soon thought him dead, but no one dared to mention even his

memory. But after two years and four months, Theodora took pity on the

man and released him. Ever after he was half blind and sick in body.

This is what she did to Buzes.

 

Belisarius, although none of the charges against him were proved, was at

the insistence of the Empress relieved of his command by the Emperor;

who appointed Martinus in his place as General of the armies of the

East. Belisarius's lancers and shield-bearers, and such of his servants

as were of military use, he ordered to be divided between the other

generals and certain of the palace eunuchs. Drawing lots for these men

and their arms, they portioned them as the chances fell. And his

friends, and all who formerly had served him, were forbidden ever to

visit Belisarius. It was a bitter sight, and one no one would ever have

thought credible, to see Belisarius a private citizen in Constantinople,

almost deserted, melancholy and miserable of countenance, and ever

expectant of a further conspiracy to accomplish his death.

 

Then the Empress learned he had acquired great wealth in the East, and

sent one of the eunuchs of the palace to confiscate it. Antonina, as I

have told, was now quite out of temper with her husband, but on the most

friendly and intimate terms with the Queen, since she had got rid of

John of Cappadocia. So, to please Antonina, Theodora arranged everything

so that the wife would appear to have asked mercy for her husband, and

from such peril to have saved his life; and the poor wretch not only

became quite reconciled to her, but let her make him her humblest slave

for having saved him from the Queen. And this is how that happened.

 

One morning, Belisarius went to the palace as usual with his few and

pitiful followers. Finding the Emperor and Empress hostile, he was

further insulted in their presence by baseborn and common men. Late in

the evening he went home, often turning around as he withdrew and

looking in every direction for those who might be advancing to put him

to death. Accompanied by this dread, he entered his home and sat down

alone upon his couch. His spirit broken, he failed even to remember the

time when he was a man; sweating, dizzy and trembling, he counted

himself lost; devoured by slavish fears and mortal worry, he was

completely emasculated.

 

Antonina, who neither knew just what arrangement of his fate had been

made nor much cared what would become of him, was walking up and down

nearby pretending a heartburn; for they were not exactly on friendly

terms. Meanwhile, an officer of the palace, Quadratus by name, had come

as the sun went down, and passing through the outer hall, suddenly stood

at the door of the men's apartments to say he had been sent here by the

Empress. And when Belisarius heard that, he drew up his arms and legs

onto the couch and lay down on his back, ready for the end. So far had

all manhood left him.

 

Quadratus, however, approached only to hand him a letter from the Queen.

And thus the letter read: "You know, Sir, your offense against us. But

because I am greatly indebted to your wife, I have decided to dismiss

all charges against you and give her your life. So for the future you

may be of good cheer as to your personal safety and that of your

property; but we shall know by what happens to you how you conduct

yourself toward her."

 

When Belisarius read this intoxicated with joy and yearning to give

evidence of his gratitude, he leapt from his couch and prostrated

himself at the feet of his wife. With each hand fondling one of her

legs, licking with his tongue the sole of first one of her feet and then

the other, he cried that she was the cause of his life and of his

safety: henceforth he would be her faithful slave, instead of her lord

and master.

 

The Empress then gave thirty gold centenaries of his property to the

Emperor, and returned what was left to Belisarius. This is what happened

to the great general to whom destiny had not long before given both

Gelimer and Vitiges to be captives of his spear! But the wealth that

this subject of theirs had acquired had long ago gnawed jealous wounds

in the hearts of Justinian and Theodora, who deemed it grown too big for

any but the imperial coffers. And they said he had concealed most of

Gelimer's and Vitiges's moneys, which by conquest belonged to the State

and had handed over only a small fraction, hardly worth accepting by an

Emperor. Yet, when they counted the labors the man had accomplished, and

the cries of reproach they might arouse among the people, since they had

no credible pretext for punishing him, they kept their peace: until now,

when the Empress, discovering him out of his senses with terror, at one

fell stroke managed to become mistress of all his fortune.

 

To tie him further to her, she betrothed Joannina, Belisarius's only

daughter, to Anastasius her nephew.

 

Belisarius now asked to be given back his old command, and as General of

the East lead the Roman armies once more against Chosroes and the Medes;

but Antonina would not hear of it. It was there she had been insulted by

him before, she said, and she never wanted to see the place again.

Accordingly, Belisarius was instead made Count of the imperial remounts,

and fared forth a second time to Italy; agreeing with the Emperor, they

say, not to ask him at any time for money toward this war, but to

prepare all the military equipment from his private purse.

 

Now everybody took it for granted that Belisarius had arranged this with

his wife and made the agreement about the expedition with the Emperor,

merely so as to get away from his humiliating position in

Constantinople; and that as soon as he had gotten outside the city, he

intended to take up arms and retaliate, nobly and as becomes a man,

against his wife and those who had done him wrong. Instead, he made

light of all he had experienced, forgot or discounted his word of honor

to Photius and his other friends, and followed his wife about in a

perfect ecstasy of love: and that when she had now arrived at the age of

sixty years.

 

However, as soon as he arrived in Italy, some new and different trouble

happened with each fresh day, for even Providence had turned against

him. For the plans this General had laid in the former campaign against

Theodatus and Vitiges, though they did not seem to be fitting to the

event, usually turned out to his advantage; while now, though he was

credited with laying better plans, as was to be expected after his

previous experience in warfare, they all turned out badly: so that the

final judgment was that he had no sense of strategy.

 

Indeed, it is not by the plans of men, but by the hand of God that the

affairs of men are directed; and this men call Fate, not knowing the

reason for what things they see occur; and what seems to be without

cause is easy to call the accident of chance. Still, this is a matter

every mortal will decide for himself according to his taste.

 

 

5. HOW THEODORA TRICKED THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER

 

From his second expedition to Italy Belisarius brought back nothing but

disgrace: for in the entire five years of the campaign he was unable to

set foot on that land, as I have related in my former books, because

there was no tenable position there; but all this time sailed up and

down along the coast.

 

Totila, indeed, was willing enough to meet him before his city walls,

but could not catch him there, since like the rest of the Roman army he

was afraid to fight. Wherefore Belisarius recovered nothing of what had

been lost, but even lost Rome in addition; and everything else, if there

were anything left to lose. His mind was filled with avarice during this

time, and he thought of nothing but base gain. Since he had been given

no funds by the Emperor, he plundered nearly all the Italians living in

Ravenna and Sicily, and wherever else he found opportunity: collecting a

bill, as it were, for which those who dwelt there were in no way

responsible. Thus, he even went to Herodian and asked him for money, and

his threats so enraged Herodian that he rebelled against the Roman army

and gave his services, with those of his followers and the city of

Spoletum, to Totila and the Goths.

 

And now I shall show how it came about that Belisarius and John, the

nephew of Vitalian, became estranged: a division that brought great

disaster to Roman affairs.

 

Now so thoroughly did the Empress hate Germanus, and so conspicuously,

that no one dared to become a relative of his, though he was the nephew

of the Emperor. His sons remained unmarried while she lived, and his

daughter Justina, though in the flower of eighteen summers, was still

unwedded. Consequently, when John, sent by Belisarius, arrived in

Constantinople, Germanus was forced to approach him as a possible

son-in-law, though John was not at all worthy in station of such an

alliance. But when they had come to an agreement, they bound each other

by most solemn oaths to complete the alliance by all means in their

power; and this was necessary because neither had any confidence in the

good faith of the other. For John knew he was seeking a marriage far

above his rank, and Germanus feared that even this man might try to slip

out of the contract.

 

The Empress, of course, was unable to contain herself at this: and in

every way, by every possible device, however unworthy, tried to hinder

the event. When, for all her menaces, she was unable to deter either of

them, she publicly threatened to put John to death. After this, on

john's return to Italy, fearing Antonina might join the plot against

him, he did not dare to meet Belisarius until she left for

Constantinople. That Antonina had been charged by the Queen to help

murder him, no one could have thought unlikely; and when he considered

Antonina's habits and Belisarius's enslavement by his wife, John was as

greatly as he was reasonably alarmed.

 

The Roman expedition, already on its last legs, now collapsed entirely.

And this is how Belisarius concluded the Gothic war. In despair he

begged the Emperor to let him come home as fast as he could sail. And

when he received the monarch's permission to do this, he left

straightway in high spirits, bidding a long farewell to the Roman army

and to Italy. He left almost everything in the power of the enemy; and

while he was on his way home, Perusia, hard pressed by a most bitter

siege, was captured and submitted to every possible misery, as I have

elsewhere related.

 

As if this were not enough, he suffered a further personal misfortune in

the following manner. The Empress Theodora, desiring to marry the

daughter of Belisarius to her nephew, worried the girl's parents with

frequent letters. To avoid this alliance, they delayed the ceremony

until they could both be present at it," and then, when the Empress

summoned them to Constantinople, pretended they were unable at the time

to leave Italy. But the Queen was still determined her nephew should be

master of Belisarius's wealth, for she knew his daughter would inherit

it, as Belisarius had no other child. Yet she had no confidence in

Antonina; and fearing that after her own life was ended, Antonina would

not be loyal to her house, for all that she had been so helpful in the

Empress's emergencies, and that she would break the agreement, Theodora

did an unholy thing.

 

She made the boy and girl live together without any ceremony. And they

say she forced the girl against her will to submit to his clandestine

embrace, so that, being thus deflowered, the girl would agree to the

marriage, and the Emperor could not forbid the event. However, after the

first ravishing, Anastasius and the girl fell warmly in love with each

other, and for not less than eight months continued their unmarital

relations.

 

But when, after Theodora's death, Antonina came to Constantinople, she

was unwilling to forget the outrage the Queen had committed against her.

Not bothering about the fact that if she united her daughter to any

other man, she would be making an ex-prostitute out of her, she refused

to accept Theodora's nephew as a son-in-law, and by force tore the girl,

ignoring her fondest pleadings, from the man she loved.

 

For this act of senseless obstinacy she was universally censured. Yet

when her husband came home, she easily persuaded him to approve her

course: which should have openly disclosed the character of the man.

Still, though he had pledged himself to Photius and others of his

friends, and then broken his word, there were plenty who sympathized

with him. For they thought the reason for his perjury was not

uxoriousness, but his fear of the Empress. But after Theodora died, as I

have told, he still took no thought of Photius or any of his friends;

and it was clear he called Antonina his mistress, and Calligonus the

pander, his master. And then all men saw his shame, made him a public

laughing stock, and reviled him to his face as a nitwit. Now was the

folly of Belisarius completely revealed.

 

As for Sergius, son of Bacchus, and his misdeeds in Libya, I have

described that affair sufficiently in my chapter elsewhere on the

subject: how he was most guilty for the disaster there to Roman power,

and how he disregarded the gospel oath he had sworn to the Levathae, and

criminally put to death their eighty ambassadors. So there remains for

me to add now only this, that neither did these men come to Sergius with

any intention of treachery, nor did Sergius have any suspicion that they

did; but nevertheless, after inviting them to a banquet under pledge of

safety, he put them shamefully to death. This resulted in the loss of

Solomon, the Roman Army, and all the Libyans. For consequent to this

affair, especially after Solomon's death, as I have told, neither

officer nor soldier was willing to venture the dangers of battle. Most

notably John son of Sisinnolus, kept entirely from the filed of war

because of his hatred of Sergius, until Areobinus came to Libya.

 

This Sergius was a luxurious person and no soldier; juvenile in nature

and years; a jealous and swaggering bully; a wanton liver and a

blowhard. But after became the accepted suitor of her niece and was this

related to Antonina, Belasarius's wife, the Empress would not allow him

to be punished or removed from his command, even when she saw Libya sure

to be lost. And with the Emperor's consent she even let Solomon, Sergius

brother, go scot-free after the murder of Pegasius. How this happened, I

shall now relate.

 

After Pegasius had ransomed Solomon from the Levathae, and the

barbarians had gone home, Solomon with Pegasius his ransomer and a few

soldiers, set out for Carthage. And on the way Pegasius reminded Solomon

of the wrong he had done, and said he should thank God for his rescue

from the enemy. Solomon vexed at being reproached for having been taken

captive, straightway slew Pegasius; and this was his requital to the man

who saved him. But when Solomon arrived in Constantinople, the Emperor

pardoned him on the ground that the man he killed was a traitor to the

Roman state. So Solomon this escaping justice, left gladly for the East

to visit his native country and his family. Yet God's vengeance overtook

him on the very journey, and removed him from the world of men.

 

This is the explanation of the affair between Solomon and Pegasius.

 

 

6. IGNORANCE OF THE EMPEROR JUSTIN, AND HOW HIS NEPHEW JUSTINIAN

WAS THE VIRTUAL RULER

 

I now come to the tale of what sort of beings Justinian and Theodora

were, and how they brought confusion on the Roman State.

 

During the rule of the Emperor Leo in Constantinople, three young

farmers of Illyrian birth, named Zimarchus, Ditybistus, and Justin of

Bederiana, after a desperate struggle with poverty, left their homes to

try their fortune in the army. They made their way to Constantinople on

foot, carrying on their shoulders their blankets in which were wrapped

no other equipment except the biscuits they had baked at home. When the

arrived and were admitted into military service, the Emperor chose them

for the palace guard; for they were all three fine-looking men.

 

Later, when Anastasius succeeded to the throne, war broke out with the

Isaurians when that nation rebelled; and against them Anastasius sent a

considerable army under John the Hunchback. This John for some offense

threw Justin into the guardhouse, and on the following day would have

sentenced him to death, had he not been stopped by a vision appearing to

him in a dream. For in this dream, the general said, he beheld a being,

gigantic in size and in every way mightier than mortals: and this being

commanded him to release the man whom he had arrested that day. Waking

from his sleep, John said, he decided the dream was not worth

considering. But the next night the vision returned, and again he heard

the same words he had heard before; yet even so he was not persuaded to

obey its command. But for the third time the vision appeared in his

dreams, and threatened him with fearful consequences if he did not do as

the angel ordered: warning that he would be in sore need of this man and

his family thereafter, when the day of wrath should overtake him. And

this time Justin was released.

 

As time went on, this Justin came to great power. For the Emperor

Anastasius appointed him Count of the palace guard; and when the Emperor

departed from this world, by the force of his military power Justin

seized the throne. By this time he was an old man on the verge of the

grave, and so illiterate that he could neither read nor write: which

never before could have been said of a Roman ruler. It was the custom

for an Emperor to sign his edicts with his own hand, but he neither made

decrees nor was able to understand the business of state at all.

 

The man on whom it befell to assist him as Quaestor was named Proclus;

and he managed everything to suit himself. But so that he might have

some evidence of the Emperor's hand, he invented the following device

for his clerks to construct. Cutting out of a block of wood the shapes

of the four letters required to make the Latin word, they dipped a pen

into the ink used by emperors for their signatures, and put it in the

Emperor's fingers. Laying the block of wood I have described on the

paper to be signed, they guided the Emperor's hand so that his pen

outlined the four letters, following all the curves of the stencil: and

thus they withdrew with the FIAT Of the Emperor. This is how the Romans

were ruled under Justin.

 

His wife was named Lupicina: a slave and a barbarian, she was bought to

be his concubine. With Justin, as the sun of his life was about to set,

she ascended the throne.

 

Now Justin was able to do his subjects neither harm nor good. For he was

simple, unable to carry on a conversation or make a speech, and utterly

bucolic. His nephew Justinian, while still a youth, was the virtual

ruler-, and the of more and worse calamities to the Romans than any one

man in all their previous history that has come down to us.- For he had

no scruples; against murder or the seizing of other persons property;

and it was nothing to him to make away with myriads of men, even when

they gave him no cause. He had no care for preserving established

customs, but was always eager for new experiments, and, in short, was

the greatest corrupter of all noble traditions.

 

Though the plague, described in my former books, attacked the whole

world, no fewer men escaped than perished of it; for some never were

taken by the disease, and others recovered after it had smitten them.

But this man, not one of all the Romans could escape; but as if he were

a second pestilence sent from heaven, he fell on the nation and left no

man quite untouched. For some he slew without reason, and some he

released to struggle with penury, and their fate was worse than that of

those who had perished, so that they prayed for death to free them from

their misery; and others he robbed of their property and their lives

together.

 

When there was nothing left to ruin in the Roman state, he determined

the conquest of Libya and Italy, for no other reason than to destroy the

people there, as he had those who were already his subjects.

 

Indeed, his power was not ten days old, before he slew Amantius, chief

of the palace eunuchs, and several others, on no graver charge than that

Amantius had made some rash remark about John, Archbishop of the city.

After this, he was the most feared of men.

 

Immediately after this he sent for the rebel Vitalian, to whom he had

first given pledges of safety, and partaken with him of the Christian

communion. But soon after he became suspicious and jealous, and murdered

Vitalian and his companions at a banquet in the palace: thus showing he

considered himself in no way bound by the most sacred of pledges.

 

 

7. OUTRAGES OF THE BLUES

 

The people had since long previous time been divided, as I have

explained elsewhere, into two factions, the Blues and the Greens.

Justinian, by joining the former party, which had already shown favor to

him, was able to bring everything into confusion and turmoil, and by its

power to sink the Roman state to its knees before him. Not all the Blues

were willing to follow his leadership, but there were plenty who were

eager for civil war. Yet even these, as the trouble spread, seemed the

most prudent of men, for their crimes were less awful than was in their

power to commit. Nor did the Green partisans remain quiet, but showed

their resentment as violently as they could, though one by one they were

continually punished; which, indeed, urged them each time to further

recklessness. For men who are wronged are likely to become desperate.

 

Then it was that Justinian, fanning the flame and openly inciting the

Blues to fight, made the whole Roman Empire shake on its foundation, as

if an earthquake or a cataclysm had stricken it, or every city within

its confines had been taken by the foe. Everything everywhere was

uprooted: nothing was left undisturbed by him. Law and order, throughout

the State, overwhelmed by distraction, were turned upside down.

 

First the rebels revolutionized the style of wearing their hair. For

they had it cut differently from the rest of the Romans: not molesting

the mustache or beard, which they allowed to keep on growing as long as

it would, as the Persians do, but clipping the hair short on the front

of the head down to the temples, and letting it hang down in great

length and disorder in the back, as the Massageti do. This weird

combination they called the Hun haircut.

 

Next they decided to wear the purple stripe on their togas, and

swaggered about in a dress indicating a rank above their station: for it

was only by ill-gotten money they were able to buy this finery. And the

sleeves of their tunics were cut tight about the wrists, while from

there to the shoulders they were of an ineffable fullness; thus,

whenever they moved their hands, as when applauding at the theater or

encouraging a driver in the hippodrome, these immense sleeves fluttered

conspicuously, displaying to the simple public what beautiful and

well-developed physiques were these that required such large garments to

cover them. They did not consider that by the exaggeration of this dress

the meagerness of their stunted bodies appeared all the more noticeable.

Their cloaks, trousers, and boots were also different: and these too

were called the Hun style, which they imitated.

 

Almost all of them carried steel openly from the first, while by day

they concealed their two-edged daggers along the thigh under their

cloaks. Collecting in gangs as soon as dusk fell, they robbed their

betters in the open Forum and in the narrow alleys, snatching from

passersby their mantles, belts, gold brooches, and whatever they had in

their hands. Some they killed after robbing them, so they could not

inform anyone of the assault.

 

These outrages brought the enmity of everybody on them, especially that

of the Blue partisans who had not taken active part in the discord. When

even the latter were molested, they began to wear brass belts and

brooches and cheaper cloaks than most of them were privileged to

display, lest their elegance should lead to their deaths; and even

before the sun went down they went home to hide. But the evil

progressed; and as no punishment came to the criminals from those in

charge of the public peace, their boldness increased more and more. For

when crime finds itself licensed, there are no limits to its abuses;

since even when it is punished, it is never quite suppressed, most men

being by nature easily turned to error. Such, then, was the conduct of

the Blues.

 

Some of the opposite party joined this faction so as to get even with

the people of their original side who had ill-treated them; others fled

in secret to other lands, but many were captured before they could get

away, and perished either at the hands of their foes or by sentence of

the State. And many other young men offered themselves to this society

who had never before taken any interest in the quarrel, but were now

induced by the power and possibility of insolence they could thus

acquire. For there is no villainy to which men give a name that was not

committed during this time, and remained unpunished.

 

Now at first they killed only their opponents. But as matters

progressed, they also murdered men who had done nothing against them.

And there were many who bribed them with money, pointing out personal

enemies, whom the Blues straightway dispatched, declaring these victims

were Greens, when as a matter of fact they were utter strangers. And all

this went on not any longer at dark and by stealth, but in every hour of

the day, everywhere in the city: before the eyes of the most notable men

of the government, if they happened to be bystanders. For they did not

need to conceal their crimes, having no fear of punishment, but

considered it rather to the advantage of their reputation, as proving

their strength and manhood, to kill with one stroke of the dagger any

unarmed man who happened to be passing by.

 

No one could hope to live very long under this state of affairs, for

everybody suspected he would be the next to be killed. No place was

safe, no time of day offered any pledge of security, since these murders

went on in the holiest of sanctuaries even during divine services. No

confidence was left in one's friends or relatives, for many died by

conspiracy of members of their own households. Nor was there any

investigation after these deeds, but the blow would fall unexpectedly,

and none avenged the victim. No longer was there left any force in law

or contract, because,of this disorder, but everything was settled by

violence. The State might as well have been a tyranny: not one, however,

that had been established, but one that was being overturned daily and

ever recommencing.

 

The magistrates seemed to have been driven from their senses, and their

wits enslaved by the fear of one man. The judges, when deciding cases

that came up before them, cast their votes not according to what they

thought right or lawful, but according as either of the disputants was

an enemy or friend of the faction in power. For a judge who disregarded

its instruction was sentencing himself to death. And many creditors were

forced to receipt the bills they had sent to their debtors without being

paid what was due them; and many thus against their will had to free

their slaves.

 

And they say that certain ladies were forced by their own slaves to do

what they did not want to do; and the sons of notable men, getting mixed

up with these young bandits, compelled their fathers, among other acts

against their will, to hand over their properties to them. Many boys

were constrained, with their fathers' knowledge, to serve the unnatural

desires of the Blues; and happily married women met the same misfortune.

 

It is told that a woman of no undue beauty was ferrying with her husband

to the suburb opposite the mainland; when some men of this party met

them on the water, and jumping into her boat, dragged her abusively from

her husband and made her enter their vessel. She had whispered to her

spouse to trust her and have no fear of any reproach, for she would not

allow herself to be dishonored. Then, as he looked at her in great

grief, she threw her body into the Bosphorus and forthwith vanished from

the world of men. Such were the deeds this party dared to commit at that

time in Constantinople.

 

Yet all of this disturbed people less than Justinian's offenses against

the State. For those who suffer the most grievously from evildoers are

relieved of the greater part of their anguish by the expectation they

will sometime be avenged by law and authority. Men who are confident of

the future can bear more easily and less painfully their present

troubles; but when they are outraged even by the government what befalls

them is naturally all the more grievous, and by the failing of all hope

of redress they are turned to utter despair. And Justinian's crime was

that he was not only unwilling to protect the injured, but saw no reason

why he should not be the open head of the guilty faction; he gave great

sums of money to these young men, and surrounded himself with them: and

some he even went so far as to appoint to high office and other posts of

honor.

 

 

8. CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE OF JUSTINIAN

 

Now this went on not only in Constantinople, but in every city: for like

any other disease, the evil, starting there, spread throughout the

entire Roman Empire. But the Emperor was undisturbed by the trouble,

even when it went on continually under his own eyes at the hippodrome.

For he was very complacent and resembled most the silly ass, which

follows, only shaking its ears, when one drags it by the bridle. As such

Justinian acted, and threw everything into confusion.

 

As soon as he took over the rule from his uncle, his measure was to

spend the public money without restraint, now that he had control of it.

He gave much of it to the Huns who, from time to time, entered the

state; and in consequence the Roman provinces were subject to constant

incursions, for these barbarians, having once tasted Roman wealth, never

forgot the road that led to it. And he threw much money into the sea in

the form of moles, as if to master the eternal roaring of the breakers.

For he jealously hurled stone breakwaters far out from the mainland

against the onset of the sea, as if by the power of wealth he could

outmatch the might of ocean.

 

He gathered to himself the private estates of Roman citizens from all

over the Empire: some by accusing their possessors of crimes of which

they were innocent, others by juggling their owners' words into the

semblance of a gift to him of their property. And many, caught in the

act of murder and other crimes, turned their possessions over to him and

thus escaped the penalty for their sins.

 

Others, fraudulently disputing title to lands happening to adjoin their

own, when they saw they had no chance of getting the best of the

argument, with the law against them, gave him their equity in the claim

so as to be released from court. Thus, by a gesture that cost him

nothing, they gained his favor and were able illegally to get the better

of their opponents.

 

I think this is as good a time as any to describe the personal

appearance of the man. Now in physique he was neither tall nor short,

but of average height; not thin, but moderately plump; his face was

round, and not bad looking, for he had good color, even when he fasted

for two days. To make a long description short, he much resembled

Domitian, Vespasian's son. He was the one whom the Romans so hated that

even tearing him into pieces did not satisfy their wrath against him,

but a decree was passed by the Senate that the name of this Emperor

should never be written, and that no statue of him should be preserved.

And so this name was erased in all the inscriptions at Rome and wherever

else it had been written, except only where it occurs in the list of

emperors; and nowhere may be seen any statue of him in all the Roman

Empire, save one in brass, which was made for the following reason.

 

Domitian's wife was of free birth and otherwise noble; and neither had

she herself ever done wrong to anybody, nor had she assented in her

husband's acts. Wherefore she was dearly loved; and the Senate sent for

her, when Domitian died, and commanded her to ask whatever boon she

wished. But she asked only this: to set up in his memory one brass

image, wherever she might desire. To this the Senate agreed. Now the

lady, wishing to leave a memorial to future time of the savagery of

those who had butchered her husband, conceived this plan: collecting the

pieces of Domitian's body, she joined them accurately together and sewed

the body up again into its original semblance. Taking this to the statue

makers, she ordered them to produce the miserable form in brass. So the

artisans forthwith made the image, and the wife took it, and set it up

in the street which leads to the Capitol, on the right hand side as one

goes there from the Forum: a monument to Domitian and a revelation of

the manner of his death until this day.

 

Justinian's entire person, his manner of expression and all of his

features might be clearly pointed out in this statue.

 

Now such was Justinian in appearance; but his character was something I

could not fully describe. For he was at once villainous and amenable; as

people say colloquially, a moron. He was never truthful with anyone, but

always guileful in what he said and did, yet easily hoodwinked by any

who wanted to deceive him. His nature was an unnatural mixture of folly

and wickedness. What in olden times a peripatetic philosopher said was

also true of him, that opposite qualities combine in a man as in the

mixing of colors. I will try to portray him, however, insofar as I can

fathom his complexity.

 

This Emperor, then, was deceitful, devious, false, hypocritical,

two-faced, cruel, skilled in dissembling his thought, never moved to

tears by either joy or pain, though he could summon them artfully at

will when the occasion demanded, a liar always, not only offhand, but in

writing, and when he swore sacred oaths to his subjects in their very

hearing. Then he would immediately break his agreements and pledges,

like the vilest of slaves, whom indeed only the fear of torture drives

to confess their perjury. A faithless friend, he was a treacherous

enemy, insane for murder and plunder, quarrelsome and revolutionary,

easily led to anything evil, but never willing to listen to good

counsel, quick to plan mischief and carry it out, but finding even the

hearing of anything good distasteful to his ears.

 

How could anyone put Justinian's ways into words? These and many even

worse vices were disclosed in him as in no other mortal nature seemed to

have taken the wickedness of all other men combined and planted it in

this man's soul. And besides this, he was too prone to listen to

accusations; and too quick to punish. For he decided such cases without

full examination, naming the punishment when he had heard only the

accuser s side of the matter. Without hesitation he wrote decrees for

the plundering of countries, sacking of cities, and slavery of whole

nations, for no cause whatever. So that if one wished to take all the

calamities which had befallen the Romans before this time and weigh them

against his crimes, I think it would be found that more men had been

murdered by this single man than in all previous history.

 

He had no scruples about appropriating other people's property, and did

not even think any excuse necessary, legal or illegal, for confiscating

what did not belong to him. And when it was his, he was more than ready

to squander it in insane display, or give it as an unnecessary bribe to

the barbarians. In short, he neither held on to any money himself nor

let anyone else keep any: as if his reason were not avarice, but

jealousy of those who had riches. Driving all wealth from the country of

the Romans in this manner, he became the cause Of universal poverty.

 

Now this was the character of Justinian, so far as I can portray it.

 

 

9. HOW THEODORA, MOST DEPRAVED OF ALL COURTESANS, WON HIS LOVE

 

He took a wife: and in what manner she was born and bred, and, wedded to

this man, tore up the Roman Empire by the very roots, I shall now relate.

 

Acacius was the keeper of wild beasts used in the amphitheater in

Constantinople; he belonged to the Green faction and was nicknamed the

Bearkeeper. This man, during the rule of Anastasius, fell sick and died,

leaving three daughters named Comito, Theodora and Anastasia: of whom

the eldest was not yet seven years old. His widow took a second husband,

who with her undertook to keep up Acacius's family and profession. But

Asterius, the dancing master of the Greens, on being bribed by another '

removed this office from them and assigned it to the man who gave him

the money. For the dancing masters had the power of distributing such

positions as they wished.

 

When this woman saw the populace assembled in the amphitheater, she

placed laurel wreaths on her daughters' heads and in their hands, and

sent them out to sit on the ground in the attitude of suppliants. The

Greens eyed this mute appeal with indifference; but the Blues were moved

to bestow on the children an equal office, since their own animal-keeper

had just died.

 

When these children reached the age of girlhood, their mother put them

on the local stage, for they were fair to look upon; she sent them

forth, however, not all at the same time, but as each one seemed to her

to have reached a suitable age. Comito, indeed, had already become one

of the leading hetaerae [/high class prostitutes/] of the day.

 

Theodora, the second sister, dressed in a little tunic with sleeves,

like a slave girl, waited on Comito and used to follow her about

carrying on her shoulders the bench on which her favored sister was wont

to sit at public gatherings. Now Theodora was still too young to know

the normal relation of man with maid, but consented to the unnatural

violence of villainous slaves who, following their masters to the

theater, employed their leisure in this infamous manner. And for some

time in a brothel she suffered such misuse.

 

But as soon as she arrived at the age of youth, and was now ready for

the world, her mother put her on the stage. Forthwith, she became a

courtesan, and such as the ancient Greeks used to call a common one, at

that: for she was not a flute or harp player, nor was she even trained

to dance, but only gave her youth to anyone she met, in utter

abandonment. Her general favors included, of course, the actors in the

theater; and in their productions she took part in the low comedy

scenes. For she was very funny and a good mimic, and immediately became

popular in this art. There was no shame in the girl, and no one ever saw

her dismayed: no role was too scandalous for her to, accept without a

blush.

 

She was the kind of comedienne who delights the audience by letting

herself be cuffed and slapped on the cheeks, and makes them guffaw by

raising her skirts to reveal to the spectators those feminine secrets

here and there which custom veils from the eyes of the opposite sex.

With pretended laziness she mocked her lovers, and coquettishly adopting

ever new ways of embracing, was able to keep in a constant turmoil the

hearts of the sophisticated. And she did not wait to be asked by anyone

she met, but on the contrary, with inviting jests and a comic flaunting

of her skirts herself tempted all men who passed by, especially those

who were adolescent.

 

On the field of pleasure she was never defeated. Often she would go

picnicking with ten young men or more, in the flower of their strength

and virility, and dallied with them all, the whole night through. When

they wearied of the sport, she would approach their servants, perhaps

thirty in number, and fight a duel with each of these; and even thus

found no allayment of her craving. Once, visiting the house of an

illustrious gentleman, they say she mounted the projecting corner of her

dining couch, pulled up the front of her dress, without a blush, and

thus carelessly showed her wantonness. And though she flung wide three

gates to the ambassadors of Cupid, she lamented that nature had not

similarly unlocked the straits of her bosom, that she might there have

contrived a further welcome to his emissaries.

 

Frequently, she conceived but as she employed every artifice

immediately, a miscarriage was straightway effected. Often, even in the

theater, in the sight of all the people, she removed her costume and

stood nude in their midst, except for a girdle about the groin: not that

she was abashed at revealing that, too, to the audience, but because

there was a law against appearing altogether naked on the stage, without

at least this much of a fig-leaf. Covered thus with a ribbon, she would

sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back. Slaves to whom the

duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into

the calyx of this passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose,

would next pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat. When she

rose, it was not with a blush, but she seemed rather to glory in the

performance. For she was not only impudent herself, but endeavored to

make everybody else as audacious. Often when she was alone with other

actors she would undress in their midst and arch her back provocatively,

advertising like a peacock both to those who had experience of her and

to those who had not yet had that privilege her trained suppleness.

 

So perverse was her wantonness that she should have hid not only the

customary part of her person, as other women do, but her face as well.

Thus those who were intimate with her were straightway recognized from

that very fact to be perverts, and any more respectable man who chanced

upon her in the Forum avoided her and withdrew in haste, lest the hem of

his mantle, touching such a creature, might be thought to share in her

pollution. For to those who saw her, especially at dawn, she was a bird

of ill omen. And toward her fellow actresses she was as savage as a

scorpion: for she was very malicious.

 

Later, she followed Hecebolus, a Tyrian who had been made governor of

Pentapolis, serving him in the basest of ways; but finally she quarreled

with him and was sent summarily away. Consequently, she found herself

destitute of the means of life, which she proceeded to earn by

prostitution, as she had done before this adventure. She came thus to

Alexandria, and then traversing all the East, worked her way to

Constantinople; in every city plying a trade (which it is safer, I

fancy, in the sight of God not to name too clearly) as if the Devil were

determined there be no land on earth that should not know the sins of

Theodora.

 

Thus was this woman born and bred, and her name was a byword beyond that

of other common wenches on the tongues of all men.

 

But when she came back to Constantinople, Justinian fell violently in

love with her. At first he kept her only as a mistress, though he raised

her to patrician rank. Through him Theodora was able immediately to

acquire an unholy power and exceedingly great riches. she seemed to him

the sweetest thing in the world, and like all lovers, he desired to

please his charmer with every possible favor and requite her with all

his wealth. The extravagance added fuel to the flames of passion. With

her now to help spend his money he plundered the people more than ever,

not only in the capital, but throughout the Roman Empire. As both of

them had for a long time been of the Blue party, they gave this faction

almost complete control of the affairs of state. It was long afterward

that the worst of this evil was checked in the following manner.

 

Justinian had been ill for several days, and during this illness was in

such peril of his life that it was even said he had died; and the Blues,

who had been committing such crimes as I have mentioned, went so far as

to kill Hypatius, a gentleman of no mean importance, in broad daylight

in the Church of St. Sophia. The cry of horror at this crime came to the

Emperor's ears, and everyone about him seized the opportunity of

pointing out the enormity of what was going on in Justinian's absence

from public affairs; and they enumerated from the beginning how many

crimes had been committed. The Emperor then ordered the Prefect of the

city to punish these offenses. This man was one Theodotus, nicknamed the

Pumpkin. He made a thorough investigation and was able to apprehend many

of the guilty and sentence them to death, though many others were not

found out, and escaped. They were destined to perish later, together

with the Roman Empire.

 

Justinian, unexpectedly restored to health, straightway undertook to put

Theodotus to death as a poisoner and a magician. But since he had no

proof on which to condemn the man, he tortured friends of his until they

were compelled to say the words that would wrongfully ruin him. When

everyone else stood to one side and only in silence lamented the plot

against Theodotus, one man, Proclus the Quaestor, dared to say openly

that the man was innocent of the charge against him, and in no way

merited death. Thanks to him, Theodotus was permitted by the Emperor to

be exiled to Jerusalem. But learning there that men were being sent to

do away with him, he hid himself in the church for the rest of his life

until he died. And this was the fate of Theodotus.

 

But after this, the Blues became the most prudent of men. For they

ventured no longer to continue their offenses, even though they might

have transgressed more fearlessly than before. And the proof of this is,

that when a few of them later showed such courage, no punishment at all

befell them. For those who had the power to punish, always gave these

gangsters time to escape, tacitly encouraging the rest to trample upon

the laws.

 

 

10.. HOW JUSTINIAN CREATED A NEW LAW PERMITTING HIM TO MARRY A

COURTESAN

 

Now as long as the former Empress was alive, Justinian was unable to

find a way to make Theodora his wedded wife. In this one matter she

opposed him as in nothing else: for the lady abhorred vice, being a

rustic and of barbarian descent, as I have shown. She was never able to

do any real good, because of her continued ignorance of the affairs of

state. She dropped her original name, for fear people would think it

ridiculous, and adopted the name of Euphemia when she came to the

palace. But finally her death removed this obstacle to Justinian's desire.

 

Justin, doting and utterly senile, was now the laughing stock of his

subjects; he was disregarded by everyone because of his inability to

oversee state affairs; but Justinian they all served with considerable

awe. His hand was in everything, and his passion for turmoil created

universal consternation.

 

It was then that he undertook to complete his marriage with Theodora.

But as it was impossible for a man of senatorial rank to make a

courtesan his wife, this being forbidden by ancient law, he made the

Emperor nullify this ordinance by creating a new one, permitting him to

wed Theodora, and consequently making it possible for anyone else to

marry a courtesan. Immediately after this he seized the power of the

Emperor, veiling his usurpation with a transparent pretext: for he was

proclaimed colleague of his uncle as Emperor of the Romans by the

questionable legality of an election inspired by terror.

 

So Justinian and Theodora ascended the imperial throne three days before

Easter, a time, indeed, when even making visits or greeting one's

friends is forbidden. And not many days later Justin died of an illness,

after a reign of nine years. Justinian was now sole .monarch, together,

of course, with Theodora.

 

Thus it was that Theodora, though born and brought up as I have related,

rose to royal dignity over all obstacles. For no thought of shame came

to Justinian in marrying her, though he might have taken his pick of the

noblest born, most highly educated, most modest, carefully nurtured,

virtuous and beautiful virgins of all the ladies in the whole Roman

Empire: a maiden, as they say, with upstanding breasts. Instead, he

preferred to make his own :what, had been common to all men, alike,

careless of all her revealed history, took in wedlock a woman who was

not only guilty of every other contamination but boasted of her many

abortions.

 

I need hardly mention any other proof of the character of this man: for

all the perversity of his soul was completely displayed in this union;

which alone was ample interpreter, witness, and historian of his

shamelessness. For when a man once disregards the disgrace of his

actions and is willing to brave the contempt of society, no path of

lawlessness is thereafter taboo to him; but with unflinching countenance

he advances, easily and without a scruple, to acts of the deepest infamy.

 

However, not a single member of even the Senate, seeing this disgrace

befalling the State, dared to complain or forbid the event; but all of

them bowed down before her as if she were a goddess. Nor was there a

priest who showed any resentment, but all hastened to greet her as

Highness. And the populace who had seen her before on the stage,

directly raised its hands to proclaim itself her slave in fact and in

name. Nor did any soldier grumble at being ordered to risk the perils of

war for the benefit of Theodora: nor was there any man on earth who

ventured to oppose her.

 

Confronted with this disgrace, they all yielded, I suppose, to

necessity, for it was as if Fate were giving proof of its power to

control mortal affairs as malignantly as it pleases: showing that its

decrees need not always be according to reason or human propriety. Thus

does Destiny sometimes raise mortals suddenly to lofty heights in

defiance of reason, in challenge to all out cries of injustice; but

admits no obstacle, urging on his favorites to the appointed goal

without let or hindrance. But as this is the will of God, so let it

befall and be

 

written.

 

Now Theodora was fair of face and of a very graceful, though small,

person; her complexion was moderately colorful, if somewhat pale; and

her eyes were dazzling and vivacious. All eternity would not be long

enough to allow one to tell her escapades while she was on the stage,

but the few details I have mentioned above should be sufficient to

demonstrate the woman's character to future generations.

 

What she and her husband did together must now be briefly described: for

neither did anything without the consent of the other. For some time it

was generally supposed they were totally different in mind and action;

but later it was revealed that their apparent disagreement had been

arranged so that their subjects might not unanimously revolt against

them, but instead be divided in opinion.

 

Thus they split the Christians into two parties, each pretending to take

the part of one side, thus confusing both, as I shall soon show; and

then they ruined both political factions. Theodora feigned to support

the Blues with all her power, encouraging them to take the offensive

against the opposing party and perform the most outrageous deeds of

violence; while Justinian, affecting to be vexed and secretly jealous of

her, also pretended he could not openly oppose her orders. And thus they

gave the impression often that they were acting in opposition. Then he

would rule that the Blues must be punished for their crimes, and she

would angrily complain that against her will she was defeated by her

husband. However, the Blue partisans, as I have said, seemed cautious,

for they did not violate their neighbors as much as they might have done.

 

And in legal disputes each of the two would pretend to favor one of the

litigants, and compel the man with the worse case to win: and so they

robbed both disputants of most of the property at issue.

 

In the same way, the Emperor, taking many persons into his intimacy,

gave them offices by power of which they could defraud the State to the

limits of their ambition. And as soon as they had collected enough

plunder, they would fall out of favor with Theodora, and straightway be

ruined. At first he would affect great sympathy in their behalf, but

soon he would somehow lose his confidence in them, and an air of doubt

would darken his zeal in their behalf. Then Theodora would use them

shamefully, while he, unconscious as it were of what was being done to

them, confiscated their properties and boldly enjoyed their wealth. By

such well-planned hypocrisies they confused the public and, pretending

to be at variance with each other, were able to establish a firm and

mutual tyranny.

 

 

11.. HOW THE DEFENDER OF THE FAITH RUINED HIS SUBJECTS

 

As soon as Justinian came into power he turned everything upside down.

Whatever had been before by law, he now introduced into the government,

while he revoked all established customs: as if he had been given the

robes of an Emperor on the condition he would turn everything

topsy-turvy. Existing offices he abolished, and invented new ones for

the management of public affairs. He did the same thing to the laws and

to the regulations of the army; and his reason was not any improvement

of justice or any advantage, but simply that everything might be new and

named after himself. And whatever was beyond his power to abolish, he

renamed after himself anyway.

 

Of the plundering of property or the murder of men, no weariness ever

overtook him. As soon as he had looted all the houses of the wealthy, he

looked around for others; meanwhile throwing away the spoils of his

previous robberies in subsidies to barbarians or senseless building

extravagances. And when he had ruined perhaps myriads in this mad

looting, he immediately sat down to plan how he could do likewise to

others in even greater number.

 

As the Romans were now at peace with all the world and he had no other

means of satisfying his lust for slaughter, he set the barbarians all to

fighting each other. And for no reason at all he sent for the Hun

chieftains, and with idiotic magnanimity gave them large sums of money,

alleging he did this to secure their friendship. This, as I have said,

he had also done in Justin's time. These Huns, as soon as they had got

this money, sent it together with their soldiers to others of their

chieftains, with the word to make inroads into the land of the Emperor:

so that they might collect further tribute from him, to buy them off in

a second peace. Thus the Huns enslaved the Roman Empire, and were paid

by the Emperor to keep on doing it.

 

This encouraged still others of them to rob the poor Romans; and after

their pillaging, they too were further rewarded by the gracious Emperor.

In this way all the Huns, for when it was not one tribe of them it was

another, continuously overran and laid waste the Empire. For the

barbarians were led by many different chieftains, and the war, thanks to

Justinian's senseless generosity, was thus endlessly protracted.

Consequently no place, mountain or cave, or any other spot in Roman

territory, during this time remained uninjured; and many regions were

pillaged more than five times.

 

These misfortunes, and those that were caused by the Medes, Saracens,

Slavs, Antes, and the rest of the barbarians, I described in my previous

works. But, as I said in the preface to this narrative, the real cause

of these calamities remained to be told here.

 

To Chosroes also -he paid many centenaries in behalf of peace, and then

with unreasonable arbitrariness caused the breaking of the truce by

making every effort to secure the friendship of Alamandur and his Huns,

who had been in alliance with the Persians: but this I freely discussed

in my chapters on the subject.

 

Moreover, while he was encouraging civil strife and frontier warfare to

confound the Romans, with only one thought in his mind, that the earth

should run red with human blood and he might acquire more and more

booty, he invented a new means of murdering his subjects. Now among the

Christians in the entire Roman Empire, there are many with dissenting

doctrines, which are called heresies by the established church: such as

those of the Montanists and Sabbatians, and whatever others cause the

minds of men to wander from the true path. All of these beliefs he

ordered to be abolished, and their place taken by the orthodox dogma:

threatening, among the punishments for disobedience, loss of the

heretic's right to will property to his children or other relatives.

 

Now the churches of these so-called heretics especially those belonging

to the Arian dissenters, were almost incredibly wealthy. Neither all the

Senate put together nor the greatest other unit of the Roman Empire, had

anything in property comparable to that of these churches. For their

gold and silver treasures, and stores of precious stones, were beyond

telling or numbering: they owned mansions and whole villages, land all

over the world, and everything else that is counted as wealth among men.

 

As none of the previous Emperors had molested these churches, many men,

even those of the orthodox faith, got their livelihood by working on

their estates. But the Emperor Justinian, in confiscating these

properties, at the same time took away what for many people had been

their only means of earning a living.

 

Agents were sent everywhere to force whomever they chanced upon to

renounce the faith of their fathers. This, which seemed impious to

rustic people, caused them to rebel against those who gave them such an

order. Thus many perished at the hands of the persecuting faction, and

others did away with themselves, foolishly thinking this the holier

course of two evils; but most of them by far quitted the land of their

fathers, and fled the country. The Montanists, who dwelt in Phrygia,

shut themselves up in their churches, set them on fire, and ascended to

glory in the flames. And thenceforth the whole Roman Empire was a scene

of massacre and flight.

 

A similar law w as then passed against the Samaritans, which threw

Palestine into an indescribable turmoil.

 

Those, indeed, who lived in my own Caesarea and in the other cities,

deciding it silly to suffer harsh treatment over a ridiculous trifle of

dogma, took the name of Christians in exchange for the one they had

borne before, by which precaution they were able to avoid the perils of

the new law. The most reputable and better class of these citizens, once

they had adopted this religion, decided to remain faithful to it; the

majority, however, as if in spite for having not voluntarily, but by the

compulsion of law, abandoned the belief of their fathers, soon slipped

away into the Manichean sect and what is known as polytheism.

 

The country people, however, banded together and determined to take arms

against the Emperor: choosing as their candidate for the throne a bandit

named Julian, son of Sabarus. And for a time they held their own against

the imperial troops; but finally, defeated in battle, were cut down,

together with their leader. Ten myriads of men are said to have perished

in this engagement, and the most fertile country on earth thus became

destitute of farmers. To the Christian owners of these lands, the affair

brought great hardship: for while their profits from these properties

were annihilated, they had to pay heavy annual taxes on them to the

Emperor for the rest of their lives, and secured no remission of this

burden.

 

Next he turned his attention to those called Gentiles, torturing their

persons and plundering their lands. of this group, those who decided to

become nominal Christians saved themselves for the time being; but it

was not long before these, too, were caught performing libations and

sacrifices and other unholy rites. And how he treated the Christians

shall be told hereafter.

 

After this he passed a law prohibiting pederasty: a law pointed not at

offenses committed after this decree, but at those who could be

convicted of having practised the vice in the past. The conduct of the

prosecution was utterly illegal. Sentence was passed when there was no

accuser: the word of one man or boy, and that perhaps a slave, compelled

against his will to bear witness against his owner, was defined as

sufficient evidence. Those who were convicted were castrated and then

exhibited in a public parade. At the start, this persecution was

directed only at those who were of the Green party, were reputed to be

especially wealthy, or had otherwise aroused jealousy.

 

The Emperor's malice was also directed against the astrologer.

Accordingly, magistrates appointed to punish thieves also abused the

astrologers, for no other reason than that they belonged to this

profession; whipping them on the back and parading them on camels

 

throughout the city, though they were old men, and in every way

respectable, with no reproach against them except that they studied the

science of the stars while living in such a city.

 

Consequently there was a constant stream of emigration not only to the

land of the barbarians but to places farthest remote from the Romans;

and in every country and city one could see crowds of foreigners. For in

order to escape persecution, each would lightly exchange his native land

for another, as if his own country had been taken by an enemy.

 

 

12. PROVING THAT JUSTINIAN AND THEODORA WERE ACTUALLY FIENDS IN

HUMAN FORM

 

Now the wealth of those in Constantinople and each other city who were

considered second in prosperity only to members of the Senate, was

brutally confiscated, in the ways I have described, by Justinian and

Theodora. But how they were able to rob even the Senate of all its

property I shall now reveal.

 

There was in Constantinople a man by the name of Zeno, grandson of that

Anthamius who had formerly been Emperor of the West. This man they

appointed, with malice aforethought, Governor of Egypt, and commanded

his immediate departure. But he delayed his voyage long enough to load

his ship with his most valuable effects; for he had a countless amount

of silver and gold plate inlaid with pearls, emeralds and other such

precious stones. Whereupon they bribed some of his most trusted servants

to remove these valuables from the ship as fast as they could carry

them, set fire to the interior of the vessel, and inform Zeno that his

ship had burst into flames of spontaneous combustion, with the loss of

all his property. Later, when Zeno died suddenly, they took possession

of his estate immediately as his legal heirs; for they produced a will

which, it is whispered, he did not really make.

 

In the same manner they made themselves heirs of Tatian, Demosthenes,

and Hilara, who were foremost in the Roman Senate. And others' estates

they obtained by counterfeited letters instead of wills. Thus they

became heirs of Dionysius, who lived in Libanus, and of John the son of

Basil, who was the most notable of the citizens of Edessa, and had been

given as hostage, against his will, by Belisarius to the Persians: as I

have recounted elsewhere. For Chosroes refused to let this John go,

charging that the Romans had disregarded the terms of the truce, as a

pledge of which John had been given him by Belisarius; and he said he

would only give him up as a prisoner of war. So his father's mother, who

was still living, got together a ransom not less than two thousand

pounds of silver, and was ready to purchase her grandson's liberty. But

when this money came to Dara, the Emperor heard of the bargain and

forbade it: saying that Roman wealth must not be given to the

barbarians. Not long after this, John fell ill and departed from this

world, whereupon the Governor of the city forged a letter which, he

said, John had written him as a friend not long before, to the effect

that he wished his estate to go to the Emperor.

 

I could hardly catalogue all the other people whose estates these two

chose to inherit. However, up to the time when the insurrection named

Nika took place, they seized rich men's properties one at a time; but

when that happened, as I have told elsewhere, they sequestrated at one

swoop the estates of nearly all the members of the Senate. On everything

movable and on the fairest of the lands they laid their hands and kept

what they wanted; but whatever was unproductive of more than the bitter

and heavy taxes, they gave back to the previous owners with a

philanthropic gesture. Consequently these unfortunates, oppressed by the

tax collectors and eaten up by the never-ceasing interest on their

debts, found life a burden compared to which death were preferable.

 

Wherefore to me,- and many others of us, these two seemed not to be

human beings, but veritable demons, and what the poets call vampires:

who laid their heads together to see how they could most easily and

quickly destroy the race and deeds of men; and assuming human bodies,

became man-demons, and so convulsed the world. And one could find

evidence of this in many things, but especially in the superhuman power

with which they worked their will.

 

For when one examines closely, there is a clear difference between what

is human and what is supernatural. There have been many enough men,

during the whole course of history, who by chance or by nature have

inspired great fear, ruining cities or countries or whatever else fell

into their power; but to destroy all men and bring calamity on the whole

inhabited earth remained for these two to accomplish, whom Fate aided in

their schemes of corrupting all mankind. For by earthquakes,

pestilences, and floods of river waters at this time came further ruin,

as I shall presently show. Thus not by human, but by some other kind of

power they accomplished their dreadful designs.

 

And they say his mother said to some of her intimates once that not of

Sabbatius her husband, nor of any man was Justinian a son. For when she

was about to conceive, there visited a demon, invisible but giving

evidence of his presence perceptibly where man consorts with woman,

after which he vanished utterly as in a dream.

 

And some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at

night, men who were pure of spirit, have thought they saw a strange

demoniac form taking his place. One man said that the Emperor suddenly

rose from his throne and walked about, and indeed he was never wont to

remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian's head vanished,

while the rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder

stood aghast and fearful, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But

presently he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the

body again as strangely as it had left it.

 

Another said he stood beside the Emperor as he sat, and of a sudden the

face changed into a shapeless mass of flesh, with neither eyebrows nor

eyes in their proper places, nor any other distinguishing feature; and

after a time the natural appearance of his countenance returned. I write

these instances not as one who saw them myself, but heard them from men

who were positive they had seen these strange occurrences at the time.

 

They also say that a certain monk, very dear to God, at the instance of

those who dwelt with him in the desert went to Constantinople to beg for

mercy to his neighbors who had been outraged beyond endurance. And when

he arrived there, he forthwith secured an audience with the Emperor; but

just as he was about to enter his apartment, he stopped short as his

feet were on the threshold, and suddenly stepped backward. Whereupon the

eunuch escorting him, and others who were present, importuned him to go

ahead. But he answered not a word; and like a man who has had a stroke

staggered back to his lodging. And when some followed to ask why he

acted thus, they say he distinctly declared he saw the King of the

Devils sitting on the throne in the palace, and he did not care to meet

or ask any favor of him.

 

Indeed, how was this man likely to be anything but an evil spirit, who

never knew honest satiety of drink or food or sleep, but only tasting at

random from the meals that were set before him, roamed the palace at

unseemly hours of the night, and was possessed by the quenchless lust of

a demon?

 

Furthermore some of Theodora's lovers, while she was on the stage, say

that at night a demon would sometimes descend upon them and drive them

from the room, so that it might spend the night with her. And there was

a certain dancer named Macedonia, who belonged to the Blue party in

Antioch, who came to possess much influence. For she used to write

letters to Justinian while Justin was still Emperor, and so made away

with whatever notable men in the East she had a grudge against, and had

their property confiscated.

 

This Macedonia, they say, greeted Theodora at the time of her arrival

from Egypt and Libya; and when she saw her badly worried and cast down

at the ill treatment she had received from Hecebolus and at the loss of

her money during this adventure, she tried to encourage Theodora by

reminding her of the laws of chance, by which she was likely again to be

the leader of a chorus of coins. Then, they say, Theodora used to relate

how on that very night a dream came to her, bidding her take no thought

of money, for when she should come to Constantinople, she should share

the couch of the King of the Devils, and that she should contrive to

become his wedded wife and thereafter be the mistress of all the money

in the world. And that this is what happened is the opinion of most people.

 

 

13. . DECEPTIVE AFFABILITY AND PIETY OF A TYRANT

 

Justinian, while otherwise of such character as I have shown, did make

himself easy of access and affable to his visitors; nobody of all those

who sought audience with him was ever denied: even those who confronted

him improperly or noisily never made him angry. On the other hand, he

never blushed at the murders he committed. Thus he never revealed a sign

of wrath or irritation at any offender, but with a gentle countenance

and unruffled brow gave the order to destroy myriads of innocent men, to

sack cities, to confiscate any amount of properties.

 

One would think from this manner that the man had the mind of a lamb.

If, however, anyone tried to propitiate him and in suppliance beg him to

forgive his victims, he would grin like a wild beast, and woe betide

those who saw his teeth thus bared!

 

The priests he permitted fearlessly to outrage their neighbors, and even

took sympathetic pleasure in their robberies, fancying he was thus

sharing their divine piety when he judged such cases, he thought he was

doing the holy thing when he gave the decision to the priest and let him

go free with his ill-gotten booty: justice, in his mind, meant the

priests' getting the better of their opponents. When he himself thus

illegally got possession of estates of people alive or dead, he would

straightway make them over to one of the churches, gilding his violence

with the color of piety-and so that his victims could not possibly get

their property back. Furthermore he committed an inconceivable number of

murders for the same cause: for in his zeal to gather all men into one

Christian doctrine, he recklessly killed all who dissented, and this too

he did in the name of piety. For he did not call it homicide, when those

who perished happened to be of a belief that was different from his own.

 

So quenchless was his thirst for human blood; and with his wife, intent

on this end, he neglected no possible excuse for slaughter. For these

two were almost twins in their desires, though they pretended to differ:

they were both scoundrels, however they affected to oppose each other,

and thus destroyed their subjects. The man was lighter in character than

a cloud of dust, and could be led to do anything any man wished him to

do, so long as the matter did not require philanthropy or generosity.

Flattery he swallowed whole, and his courtiers had no difficulty in

persuading him that he was destined to rise as high as the sun and walk

upon the clouds.

 

Once, indeed, Tribonian, who was sitting beside him, said his greatest

fear was that Justinian some day by reason of his piety would be carried

off to heaven and vanish in a chariot of fire. Such praise, if not

irony, as this he treasured fondly in his mind.

 

Yet if he ever remarked on any man's virtue, he would soon revile him as

a villain; and whenever he abused any of his subjects, he would next as

inconsistently commend him, with no reason for the change. For what he

thought was always the opposite of what he said and wished to seem to

think.

 

How he was affected by friendship or enmity I have indicated by the

evidence of his actions. For as a foe he was relentless and unswerving,

and to his friends he was inconstant. Thus he ruined recklessly most of

those who were loyal to him, but never became a friend to any whom he

hated. Even those who seemed to be his nearest and dearest associates he

betrayed, and after no long time, to please his wife or anybody else,

though he was well aware that it was only because of their devotion to

him that they perished. For he was openly faithless in everything,

except indeed to inhumanity and avarice. From these ideals no man could

divert him. Whatever his wife could not otherwise induce him to do, by

suggesting the great profits to be hoped for in the matter she intended,

she led him willingly to undertake. For if there were an ever infamous,

he had no scruple against making a law and then repudiating it. Nor were

his decisions made according to the laws himself had written: but

whichever way was to his greater advantage, and promised the more

elaborate bribe. Stealing, little by little, the property of his

subjects, he saw no reason for feeling any shame; when, indeed, he did

not somehow grab it all at once, either by bringing some unexpected

accusation or by presenting a forged will.

 

There remained, while he ruled the Romans, no sure faith in God, no hope

in religion, no defense in law, no security in business, no trust in a

contract. When his officials were given any affair to handle for him, if

they killed many of their victims and robbed the rest, they were looked

upon by the Emperor with high favor, and given honorable mention for

carrying out so perfectly his instructions. But if they showed any mercy

and then returned to him, he frowned and was thenceforth their enemy.

 

Despising their qualms as old-fashioned, he called them no more to his

service. Consequently many were eager to show him how wicked they were,

even when they were really nothing of the sort. He made frequent

promises, guaranteed with a sworn oath or by a written confirmation; and

then purposely forgot them directly, thinking this summary negligence

added to his importance. And Justinian acted thus not only to his

subjects, but to many of the enemy, as I have already said.

 

He was untiring; and hardly slept at all, generally speaking; he had no

appetite for food or drink, but picking up a morsel with the tips of his

fingers, tasted it and left the table, as if eating were a duty imposed

upon him by nature and of no more interest than a courier takes in

delivering a letter. Indeed, he would often go without food for two days

and nights, especially when the time before the festival called Easter

enjoins such fasting. Then, as I have said, he often went without food

for two days, living only on a little water and a few wild herbs,

sleeping perhaps a single hour, and then spending the rest of the time

walking up and down.

 

If, mark you, he had spent these periods in good works, matters might

have been considerably alleviated. Instead, he devoted the full strength

of his nature to the ruin of the Romans, and succeeded in razing the

state to its foundation. For his constant wakefulness, his privations

and his labors were undergone for no other reason than to contrive each

day ever more exaggerated calamities for his people. For he was, as I

said, unusually keen at inventing and quick at accomplishing unholy

acts, so that even the good in him transpired to be answerable for the

downfall of his subjects.

 

 

14. JUSTICE FOR SALE

 

Everything was done the wrong way, and of the old customs none remained;

a few instances will illustrate, and the rest must be silence, that this

book may have an end. In the first place, Justinian, having no natural

aptitude toward the imperial dignity, neither assumed the royal manner

nor thought it necessary to his prestige. In his accent, in his dress,

and in his ideas he was a barbarian. When he wished to issue a decree,

he did not give it out through the Quaestor's office, as is usual, but

most frequently preferred to announce it himself, in spite of his

barbarous accent; or sometimes he had a whole group of his intimates

publish it together, so that those who were wronged by the edict did not

know which one to complain against.

 

The secretaries who had performed this duty for centuries were no longer

trusted with writing the Emperor's secret dispatches: he wrote them

himself and practically everything else, too; so that in the few cases

where he neglected to give instructions to city magistrates, they did

not know where to go for advice concerning their duties. For he let no

one in the Roman Empire decide anything independently, but taking

everything upon himself with senseless arrogance, gave the verdict in

cases before they came to trial, accepting the story of one of the

litigants without listening to the other, and then pronounced the

argument concluded; swayed not by any law or justice, but openly

yielding to base greed. In accepting bribes the Emperor felt no shame,

since hunger for wealth had devoured his decency.

 

Often the decrees of the Senate and those of the Emperor nominally

conflicted. The Senate, however, sat only for pictorial effect, with no

power to vote or do anything. It was assembled as a matter of form, to

comply with the ancient law, and none of its members was permitted to

utter a single word. The Emperor and his Consort took upon themselves

the decisions of all matters in dispute, and their will of course

prevailed. And if anybody thought his victory in such a case was

insecure because it was illegal, he had only to give the Emperor more

money, and a new law would immediately be passed revoking the former

one. And if anybody else preferred the law that had been repealed, the

ruler was quite willing to reestablish it in the same manner.

 

Under this reign of violence nothing was stable, but the balance of

justice revolved in a circle, inclining to whichever side was able to

weight it with the heavier amount of gold. Publicly in the Forum, and

under the management of palace officials, the selling of court decisions

and legislative actions was carried on.

 

The officers called Referendars were no longer satisfied to perform

their duties of presenting to the Emperor the request of petitioners,

and referring to the magistrates what he had decided in the petitioner's

case; but gathering worthless testimony from all quarters, with false

reports and misleading statements, deceived Justinian, who was naturally

inclined to listen to that sort of thing; and then they would go back to

the litigants, without telling them what had been said during their

interview with the Emperor, to extort as much money as they desired. And

no one dared oppose them.

 

The soldiers of the Pretorian guard, attending the judges of the

imperial court in the palace, also used their power to influence

decisions. Everybody, one might say, stepped from his rank and found he

was now at liberty to walk roads where before there had been no path;

all bars were down, even the names of former restrictions were lost. The

government was like a Queen surrounded by romping children. But I must

pass over further illustrations, as I said at the beginning of this

chapter.

 

I must, however, mention the man who first taught the Emperor to sell

his decisions. This was Leo, a native of Cilicia, and devilish eager to

enrich himself. This Leo was the prince of flatterers, and apt at

insinuating himself into the good will of the ignorant. Gaining the

confidence of the Emperor, he turned the tyrant's folly toward the ruin

of the people. This man was the first to show Justinian how to exchange

justice for money.

 

As soon as the latter thus learned how to be a thief, he never stopped;

but advancing on this road, the evil grew so great that if anyone wished

to win an unjust case against an honest man, he went first to Leo, and

agreeing that a share of the disputed property would be given to be

divided between this man and the monarch, left the palace with his

wrongful case already won. And Leo soon built up a great fortune in this

way, became the lord of much land, and was most responsible for bringing

the Roman state to its knees.

 

There was no security in contracts, no law, no oath, no written pledge,

no penalty, no nothing: unless money had first been given to Leo and the

Emperor. And even buying Leo's support gave no certainty, for Justinian

was quite willing to take money from both sides: he felt no guilt at

robbing either party, and then, when both trusted him, he would betray

one and keep his promise to the other, at random. He saw nothing

disgraceful in such double dealing, if only it brought him gain. That is

the sort of person Justinian was.

 

 

15. HOW ALL ROMAN CITIZENS BECAME SLAVES

 

Theodora too unceasingly hardened her heart in the practice of

inhumanity. What she did, was never to please or obey anyone else; what

she willed, she performed of her own accord and with all her might: and

no one dared to intercede for any who fell in her way. For neither

length of time, fulness of punishment, artifice of prayer, nor threat of

death, whose vengeance sent by Heaven is feared by all mankind, could

persuade her to abate her wrath. Indeed, no one ever saw Theodora

reconciled to any one who had offended her, either while he lived or

after he had departed this earth. Instead, the son of the dead would

inherit the enmity of the Empress, together with the rest of his

father's estate: and he in turn bequeathed it to the third generation.

For her spirit was over ready to be kindled to the destruction of men,

while cure for her fever there was none.

 

To her body she gave greater care than was necessary, if less than she

thought desirable. For early she entered the bath and late she left it;

and having bathed, went to breakfast. After breakfast she rested. At

dinner and supper she partook of every kind of food and drink; and many

hours she devoted to sleep, by day till nightfall, by night till the

rising sun. Though she wasted her hours thus intemperately, what time of

the day remained she deemed ample for managing the Roman Empire.

 

And if the Emperor intrusted any business to anyone without consulting

her, the result of the affair for that officer would be his early and

violent removal from favor and a most shameful death.

 

It was easy for Justinian to look after everything, not only because of

his calmness of temper, but because he hardly ever slept, as I have

said, and because he was not chary with his audiences. For great

opportunity was given to people, however obscure and unknown, not only

to be admitted to the tyrant's presence, but to converse with him, and

in private.

 

But to the Queen's presence even the highest officials could not enter

without great delay and trouble; like slaves they had to wait all day in

a small and stuffy antechamber, for to absent himself was a risk no

official dared to take. So they stood there on their tiptoes, each

straining to keep his face above his neighbor's, so that eunuchs, as

they came out from the audience room, would see them. Some would be

called, perhaps, after several days; and when they did enter to her

presence in great fear, they were quickly dismissed as soon as they had

made obeisance and kissed her feet. For to speak or make any request,

unless she commanded, was not permitted.

 

Not civility, but servility was now the rule, and Theodora was the slave

driver. So far had Roman society been corrupted, between the false

geniality of the tyrant and the harsh implacability of his consort. For

his smile was not to be trusted, and against her frown nothing could be

done. There was this superficial difference between them in attitude and

manner; but in avarice, bloodthirstiness, and dissimulation they utterly

agreed. They were both liars of the first water.

 

And if anyone who had fallen out of favor with Theodora was accused of

some minor and insignificant error, she immediately fabricated further

unwarranted charges against the man, and built the matter up into a

really serious accusation. Any number of indictments were brought, and a

court appointed to plunder the victim, with judges selected by her, to

compete with themselves to see which one could please her most in

fitting his decision to the Empress's inhumanity. And so the property of

the victim would be straightway confiscated, and after he was cruelly

whipped, even if he perhaps belonged to an ancient and noble family, she

would callously have him sentenced to exile or to death.

 

But if any of her favorites happened to be caught in the act of murder

or any other serious crime, she ridiculed and belittled the efforts of

their accusers, and compelled them, however unwillingly, to quash the

charge. Indeed, whenever she felt the inclination, she turned the most

serious matters of state into a jest, as if she were again on the stage

of the theater.

 

Once an elderly patrician, who had been for a long time in high office

(whose name I well know, but shall carefully refrain from mentioning, so

as not to bring eternal ridicule upon him), being unable to collect from

one of her attendants a considerable sum of money owed him, went to her

with the intention of asking his due and imploring her just aid. But

Theodora was warned, and told her eunuchs, as soon as the patrician

should be admitted to her presence, to surround him in a body and listen

to her words; telling them what to say after she had spoken. And when

the patrician was admitted to her private quarters, he kissed her feet

in the customary manner and, weeping, addressed her:

 

"Highness, it is hard for a patrician to ask for money. For what in

other men brings sympathy and pity, in one of my rank is considered

disgraceful. Any other man suffering hardships from poverty may plead

this before his creditors, and receive immediate relief from his

difficulty; but a patrician, not knowing whence he can find the

wherewithal to pay his creditors, would be ashamed in the first place to

admit it. And if he did say this, he could never persuade them that one

of such rank could know penury. And even if he did persuade them, he

would be making himself suffer the most shameful and intolerable

disgrace imaginable.

 

"Yet, Highness, such is my plight. I have creditors to whom I owe money,

while others owe money to me. And those whom I owe, who are pressing me

for payment, I cannot, for the sake of my reputation, attempt to cheat

of their due; while my debtors, for they are not patricians, deny me

with unmanly excuses. I charge you, therefore; I beseech and beg of you,

to aid me in what is right, and release me from my present trouble."

 

So he said, and the Queen answered musically:

 

"Patrician Mr. Such-and-such-" whereupon the chorus of eunuchs sang:

 

"Your hernia seems to bother you much!"

 

And when the man entreated her again, making a second speech similar to

his first one, she answered as before, and the chorus sang the same

refrain: till, giving it up, the poor wretch bowed and went home.

 

Most of the year the Empress resided in the suburbs on the seashore,

especially in the place called Heraeum, and the numerous crowd of her

attendants was subjected to great inconvenience. For it was hard to get

necessary supplies, and they were exposed to the perils of the sea:

especially to the frequent sudden storms and the attack of sharks.

Nevertheless they counted the most bitter misfortunes as nothing, so

long as they could share the licenses of her court.

 

 

16. WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE WHO FELL OUT OF FAVOR WITH THEODORA

 

How Theodora treated those who offended her will now be shown, though

again I can give only a few instances, or obviously there would be no

end to the demonstration.

 

When Amasalontha decided to save her life by surrendering her queendom

over the Goths and retiring to Constantinople (as I have related

elsewhere), Theodora, reflecting that the lady was well-born and a

Queen, more than easy to look at and a marvel at planning intrigues,

became suspicious of her charms and audacity: and fearing her husband's

fickleness, she became not a little jealous, and determined to ensnare

the lady to her doom.

 

So she forthwith persuaded Justinian to send Peter, alone, to Italy as

ambassador to Theodatus. When he set out the Emperor gave him the

instructions I described in the chapter on that event: where, however, I

could not tell the whole truth of the matter, for fear of the Empress.

But she gave him this single secret command: to remove the lady from

this world with all dispatch; bribing the fellow with the hope of much

money if he performed his order. And when he arrived in Italy (for man

is not by nature too hesitant at committing murder, if he has been

bribed by the promise of high office or considerable money), by what

argument I know not, he persuaded Theodatus to make away with

Amasalontha. Consequently raised to the rank of Master of Offices, he

achieved immense power and universal hatred. And so ends the story of

Amasalontha.

 

Then ,there was a secretary to Justinian named Priscus: an utter villain

and Paphlagonian, of a character likely to please his master, to whom he

was more than devoted, and from whom he expected similar consideration.

And accordingly he very soon became the owner of great and ill-gotten

wealth. Finding him insolent and always trying to oppose her, Theodora

denounced him to the Emperor. At first she was unsuccessful; but before

long she took the matter in her own hands: embarked the man on a ship,

sailing to a determined port, had his head shaved, and compelled him

against his will to become a priest. And Justinian, pretending he knew

nothing of the matter, never asked where on earth Priscus was, nor ever

after mentioned him: remaining silent as if he had utterly forgotten

him. However, he did not forget to seize what property Priscus had been

forced to abandon.

 

Again, Theodora was overtaken with suspicion of one of her servants

named Areobindus, a barbarian by birth, but a handsome young man, whom

she had made her steward. Instead of accusing him directly, she decided

to have him cruelly whipped in her presence (though they say she was

madly in love with the fellow) without explaining her reason for the

punishment. What became of the man after that we do not know, nor has

any one ever seen him since. For if the Queen wanted to keep any of her

actions concealed, it remained secret and unmentioned; and neither was

any who knew of the matter allowed to tell it to his closest friend, nor

could any who tried to learn what had happened ever find out, no matter

how much of a busybody he was.

 

No other tyrant since mankind began ever inspired such fear, since not a

word could be spoken against her without her hearing of it: her

multitude of spies brought her the news of whatever was said and done in

public or in private. And when she decided the time had come to take

vengeance on any offender, she did as follows. Summoning the man, if he

happened to be notable, she would privately hand him over to one of her

confidential attendants, and order that he be escorted to the farthest

boundary of the Roman realm. And her agent, in the dead of night,

covering the victim's face with a hood and binding him, would put him on

board a ship and accompany him to the place selected by Theodora. There

he would secretly leave the unfortunate in charge of another qualified

for this work: charging him to keep the prisoner under guard and tell no

one of the matter until the Empress should take pity on the wretch or,

as time went on, he should languish under his bondage and succumb to death.

 

Then there was Basanius, one of the Green faction, a prominent young

man, who incurred her anger by making some uncomplimentary remark.

Basanius, warned of her displeasure, fled to the Church of Michael the

Archangel. She immediately sent the Prefect after him, charging Basanius

however not with slander, but pederasty. And the Prefect, dragging the

man from the church, had him flogged intolerably while all the populace,

when they saw a Roman citizen of good standing so shamefully mistreated,

straightway sympathized with him, and cried so loud to let him go that

Heaven must have heard their reproaches. Whereupon the Empress punished

him further, and had him castrated so that he bled to death, and his

estate was confiscated; though his case had never been tried. Thus, when

this female was enraged, no church offered sanctuary, no law gave

protection, no intercession of the people brought mercy to her victim;

nor could anything else in the world stop her.

 

Thus she took a hatred of a certain Diogenes, because he belonged to the

Greens: a man urbane and beloved by all, including the Emperor himself.

None the less she wrathfully denounced him as homosexual. Bribing two of

his servants, she presented them as accusers and witnesses against their

master. However, as he was tried publicly and not in secret, as was her

usual practise in such cases, the judges chosen were many and of

distinguished character, because of Diogenes's high rank; and after

cross-examination of the evidence of the servants, they decided it was

insufficient to prove the case, especially as the latter were only

children.

 

So the Empress locked up Theodorus, one of Diogenes's friends, in one of

her private dungeons; and there first with flattery, then with flogging,

tried to overwhelm him. When he still resisted, she ordered a cord of

oxhide to be wound around his head and then turned and tightened. But

though they twisted the cord till his eyes started from their sockets

and Theodora thought he would lose them completely, still he refused to

confess what he had not done. Accordingly the judges, for lack of proof,

acquitted him, while all the city took holiday to celebrate his release.

And that was that.

 

 

17. HOW SHE SAVED FIVE HUNDRED HARLOTS FROM A LIFE OF SIN

 

I have told earlier in this narrative what she did to Belisarius,

Photius and Buzes.

 

There were two members of the Blue faction, Cilicians by birth, who with

a mob of others offered violence to Callinicus, Governor of the second

Cilicia; and when his groom, who was standing near his master, tried to

protect him, they slew the fellow before the eyes of the Governor and

all the people. The Governor, convicting the two of this and many

previous murders, sentenced them to death. Theodora heard of this, and

to show her preference f or the. Blues,. crucified Callinicus, without

troubling to remove him from his office, on the spot where the murderers

had been buried.

 

The Emperor affected to lament and mourn the death of his Governor, and

sat around grumbling and making threats against those responsible for

the deed. But he did nothing, except to seize the estate of the dead man.

 

Theodora also devoted considerable attention to the punishment of women

caught in carnal sin. She picked up more than five hundred harlots in

the Forum, who earned a miserable living by selling themselves there for

three obols, and sent them to the opposite mainland, where they were

locked up in the monastery called Repentance to force them to reform

their way of life. Some of them, however, threw themselves from the

parapets at night and thus freed themselves from an undesired salvation.

 

There were in Constantinople two girls: sisters, of a very illustrious

family -not only had their father and grandfather been Consuls, but even

before that their ancestors had been Senators. These girls had both

married early, but became widows when their husbands died; and

immediately Theodora, accusing them of living too merrily, chose new

husbands for them, two common and disgusting fellows, and commanded the

marriage to take place. Fearing this repulsive fate, the sisters fled to

the Church of St. Sophia, and running to the holy water, clung tightly

to the font. Yet such privations and ill treatment did the Empress

inflict upon them there, that to escape from their sufferings they

finally agreed to accept the proposed nuptials. For no place was sacred

or inviolable to Theodora. Thus involuntarily these ladies were mated to

beggarly and negligible men, far beneath their rank, although they had

many well-born suitors. Their mother, who was also a widow, attended the

ceremony without daring to protest or even weep at their misfortune.

 

Later Theodora saw her mistake and tried to console them, to the public

detriment, for she made their new husbands Dukes. Even this brought no

comfort to the young women, for endless and intolerable woes were

inflicted on practically all their subjects by these men; as I have told

elsewhere. Theodora, however, cared nothing for the interest of office

or government, or anything else, if only she accomplished her will.

 

She had accidentally become pregnant by one of her lovers, when she was

still on the stage; and perceiving her ill luck too late tried all the

usual measures to cause a miscarriage, but despite every artifice was

unable to prevail against nature at this advanced stage of development.

Finding that nothing else could be done, she abandoned the attempt and

was compelled to give birth to the child. The father of the baby, seeing

that Theodora was at her wit's end and vexed because motherhood

interfered with her usual recreations, and suspecting with good reason

that she would do away with the child, took the infant from her, naming

him John, and sailed with the baby to Arabia. Later, when he was on the

verge of death and John was a lad of fourteen, the father told him the

whole story about his mother.

 

So the boy, after he had performed the last rites for his departed

father, shortly after came to Constantinople and announced his presence

to the Empress's chamberlains. And they, not conceiving the possibility

of her acting so inhumanly, reported to the mother that her son John had

come. Fearing the story would get to the ears of her husband, Theodora

bade her son be brought face to face with her. As soon as he entered,

she handed him over to one of her servants who was ordinarily entrusted

with such commissions. And in what manner the poor lad was removed from

the world, I cannot say, for no one has ever seen him since, not even

after the Queen died. The ladies of the court at this time were nearly

all of abandoned morals. They ran no risk in being faithless to their

husbands, as the sin brought no penalty: even if caught in the act, they

were unpunished, for all they had to do was to go to the Empress, claim

the charge was not proven, and start a countersuit against their

husbands. The latter, defeated without a trial, had to pay a fine of

twice the dower, and were usually whipped and sent to prison; and the

next time they saw their adulterous wives again, the ladies would be

daintily entertaining their lovers more openly than ever. Indeed, many

of the latter gained promotion and pay for their amorous services. After

one such experience, most men who suffered these outrages from their

wives preferred thereafter to be complaisant instead of being whipped,

and gave them every liberty rather than seem to be spying on their affairs.

 

Theodora's idea was to control everything in the state to suit herself.

Civil and ecclesiastical offices were all in her hand, and there was

only one thing she was always careful to inquire about and guard as the

standard of her appointments: that no honest gentleman should be given

high rank, for fear he would have scruples against obeying her commands.

 

She arranged all marriages as if that were her divine right, and

voluntary betrothals before a ceremony were unknown. A wife would

suddenly be found for a man, chosen not because she pleased him, which

is customary even among the barbarians, but because Theodora willed it.

And the same was true of brides, who were forced to take men they did

not desire. Frequently she even made the bride jump out of her marriage

bed, and for no reason at all sent the bridegroom away before he had

reached the chorus of his nuptial song; and her only angry words would

be that the girl displeased her. Among the many to whom she did this

were Leontius, the Referendar, and Saturninus, the son of Hermogenes the

Master of Offices.

 

Now this Saturninus was betrothed to a maiden cousin, freeborn and a

good girl, whom her father Cyril had promised him in marriage just after

the death of Hermogenes. When their bridal chamber was in readiness,

Theodora arrested the groom, who was conducted to another nuptial couch,

where, weeping and groaning terribly, he was compelled to wed

Chrysomallo's daughter. Chrysomallo herself had formerly been a dancer

and a hetaera; at this time she lived in the palace, with another woman

of the same name and one called Indaro, having given up Cupid and the

stage to be of service to the Queen.

 

Saturninus, lying down finally to pleasant dreams with his new bride,

discovered she was already unmaidened; and later told one of his friends

that his new-found mate came to him not imperforate. When this comment

got to Theodora, she ordered her servants, charging him with impious

disregard of the solemnity of his matrimonial oath, to hoist him up like

a schoolboy who had been saucy to his teacher: and after whipping him on

his backsides, told him not to be such a fool thereafter.

 

What she did to John the Cappadocian I have told elsewhere; and need add

only that her treatment of him was due to her anger, not at his

transgressions against the state (and a proof of this is that those who

later did even more terrible things to their subjects met no such

similar fate from her), but because he had a not only dared oppose her

in other things, but had denounced her before the Emperor: with the

result that she was all but estranged from her husband. I am explaining

this now, for it is in this book, as I said in the foreword, that I

necessarily tell the real truths and motives of events.

 

When she confined him in Egypt, after he had suffered such humiliations

as I have previously described, she was not even then satisfied with the

man's punishment, but never ceased hunting for false witnesses against

him. Four years later, she was able to find two members of the Green

party who had taken part in the insurrection at Cyzicus, and who were

said to have shared in the assault upon the bishop. These two she

overwhelmed with flattery and threats, and one of them, inspired by her

promises, accused John of the murder; while the other utterly refused to

be an accomplice in this libel, even when he was so injured by the

torture that he seemed about to die on the spot. Consequently for all

her efforts she was unable to cause john's death on this pretext. But

the two young men had their right hands cut off: one, because he was

unwilling to bear false witness; the other, that her conspiracy might

not be utterly obvious. Thus she was able to do things in full public

sight, and still nobody knew exactly what she had done.

 

 

18. HOW JUSTINIAN KILLED A TRILLION PEOPLE

 

That Justinian was not a man, but a demon, as I have said, in human

form, one might prove by considering the enormity of the evils he

brought upon mankind. For in the monstrousness of his actions the power

of a fiend is manifest. Certainly an accurate reckoning of all those

whom he destroyed would be impossible, I think, for anyone but God to

make. Sooner could one number, I fancy, the sands of the sea than the

men this Emperor murdered. Examining the countries that he made desolate

of inhabitants, I would say he slew a trillion people. For Libya, vast

as it is, he so devastated that you would have to go a long way to find

a single man, and he would be remarkable. Yet eighty thousand Vandals

capable of bearing arms had dwelt there, and as for their wives and

children and servants, who could guess their number? Yet still more

numerous than these were the Mauretanians, who with their wives and

children were all exterminated. And again, many Roman soldiers and those

who followed them to Constantinople, the earth now covers; so that if

one should venture to say that five million men perished in Libya alone,

he would not, I imagine, be telling the half of it.

 

The reason for this was that after the Vandals were defeated, Justinian

planned, not how he might best strengthen his hold on the country, nor

how by safeguarding the interests of those who were loyal to him he

might have the goodwill of his subjects: but instead he foolishly

recalled Belisarius at once, on the charge that the latter intended to

make himself King (an idea of which Belisarius was utterly incapable),

and so that he might manage affairs there himself and be able to plunder

the whole of Libya. Sending commissioners to value the province, he

imposed grievous taxes where before there had been none. Whatever lands

were most valuable, he seized, and prohibited the Arians from observing

their religious ceremonies. Negligent toward sending necessary supplies

to the soldiers, he was over-strict with them in other ways; wherefore

mutinies arose resulting in the deaths of many. For he was never able to

abide by established customs, but naturally threw everything into

confusion and disturbance.

 

Italy, which is not less than thrice as large as Libya, was everywhere

desolated of men, even worse than the other country; and from this the

count of those who perished there may be imagined. The reason for what

happened in Italy I have already made plain. All of his crimes in Libya

were repeated here; sending his auditors to Italy, he soon upset and

ruined everything.

 

The rule of the Goths, before this war, had extended from the land of

the Gauls to the boundaries of Dacia, where the city of Sirmium is. The

Germans held Cisalpine Gaul and most of the land of the Venetians, when

the Roman army arrived in Italy. Sirmium and the neighboring country was

in the hands of the Gepidae. All of these he utterly depopulated. For

those who did not die in battle perished of disease and famine, which as

usual followed in the train of war. Illyria and all of Thrace, that is,

from the Ionian Gulf to the suburbs of Constantinople, including Greece

and the Chersonese, were overrun by the Huns, Slavs and Antes, almost

every year, from the time when Justinian took over the Roman Empire; and

intolerable things they did to the inhabitants. For in each of these

incursions, I should say, more than two hundred thousand Romans were

slain or enslaved, so that all this country became a desert like that of

Scythia.

 

Such were the results of the wars in Libya and in Europe. Meanwhile the

Saracens were continuously making inroads on the Romans of the East,

from the land of Egypt to the boundaries of Persia; and so completely

did their work, that in all this country few were left, and it will

never be possible, I fear, to find out how many thus perished. Also the

Persians under Chosroes three times invaded the rest of this Roman

territory, sacked the cities, and either killing or carrying away the

men they captured in the cities and country, emptied the land of

inhabitants every time they invaded it. From the time when they invaded

Colchis, ruin has befallen themselves and the Lazi and the Romans.

 

For neither the Persians nor the Saracens, the Huns or the Slavs or the

rest of the barbarians, were able to withdraw from Roman territory

undamaged. In their inroads, and still more in their sieges of cities

and in battles, where they prevailed over opposing forces, they shared

in disastrous losses quite as much. Not only the Romans, but nearly all

the barbarians thus felt Justinian's bloodthirstiness. For while

Chosroes himself was bad enough, as I have duly shown elsewhere,

Justinian was the one who each time gave him an occasion for the war.

For he took no heed to fit his policies to an appropriate time, but did

everything at the wrong moment: in time of peace or truce he ever

craftily contrived to find pretext for war with his neighbors; while in

time of war, he unreasonably lost interest, and hesitated too long in

preparing for the campaign, grudging the necessary expenses; and instead

of putting his mind on the war, gave his attention to stargazing and

research as to the nature of God. Yet he would not abandon hostilities,

since he was so bloodthirsty and tyrannical, even when thus unable to

conquer the enemy because of his negligence in meeting the situation.

 

So while he was Emperor, the whole earth ran red with the blood of

nearly all the Romans and the barbarians. Such were the results of the

wars throughout the whole Empire . during this time. But the civil

strife in Constantinople and in every other city, if the dead were

reckoned, would total no smaller number of slain than those who perished

in the wars, I believe. Since justice and impartial punishment were

seldom directed against offenders, and each of the two factions tried to

win the favor of the Emperor over the other, neither party kept the

peace. Each, according to his smile or his frown, was now terrified, now

encouraged. Sometimes they attacked each other in full strength,

sometimes in smaller groups, or even lay in ambush against the first

single man of the opposite party who came along. For thirty-two years,

without ever ceasing, they performed outrages against each other, many

of them being punished with death by the municipal Prefect.

 

However, punishment for these offenses was mostly directed against the

Greens.

 

Furthermore the persecution of the Samaritans and the so-called heretics

filled the Roman realm with blood. Let this present recapitulation

suffice to recall what I have described more fully a little while since.

Such were the things done to all mankind by the demon in flesh for which

Justinian, as Emperor, was responsible. But what evils he wrought

against men by some hidden power and diabolic force I shall now relate.

 

During his rule over the Romans, many disasters of various kinds

occurred: which some said were due to the presence and artifices of the

Devil, and others considered were effected by the Divinity, Who,

disgusted with the Roman Empire, had turned away from it and given the

country up to the Old One. The Scirtus River flooded Edessa, creating

countless sufferings among the inhabitants, as I have elsewhere written.

The Nile, rising as usual, but not subsiding in the customary season,

brought terrible calamities to the people there, as I have also

previously recounted. The Cydnus inundated Tarsus, covering almost the

whole city for many days, and did not subside until it had done

irreparable damage.

 

Earthquakes destroyed Antioch, the leading city of the East; Seleucia,

which is situated nearby; and Anazarbus, most renowned city in Cilicia.

Who could number those that perished in these metropoles? Yet one must

add also those who lived in Ibora; in Amasea, the chief city of Pontus;

in Polybotus in Phrygia, called Polymede by the Pisidians; in Lychnidus

in Epirus; and in Corinth: all thickly inhabited cities from of old. All

of these were destroyed by earthquakes during this time, with a loss of

almost all their inhabitants. And then came the plague, which I have

previously mentioned, killing half at least of those who had survived

the earthquakes. To so many men came their doom, when Justinian first

came to direct the Roman state and later possessed the throne of autocracy.

 

 

19. HOW HE SEIZED ALL THE WEALTH OF THE ROMANS AND THREW IT AWAY

 

How he seized all wealth I will next discuss: recalling first a vision

which, at the beginning of Justinian's rule, was revealed to one of

illustrious rank in a dream.

 

In this dream, he said, he seemed to be standing on the shore of the sea

somewhere in Constantinople, across the water from Chalcedon, and saw

Justinian there in midchannel. And first Justinian drank up all the

water of the sea, so that he presently appeared to be standing on the

mainland, there bring no longer any waves to break against it; then

other water, heavy with filth and rubbish, roaring out of the

subterranean sewers, proceeded to cover the land. And this, too, he

drank, a second time drying up the bed of the channel. This is what the

vision in the dream disclosed.

 

Now Justinian, when his uncle Justin came to the throne, found the state

well provided with public funds. For Anastasius, who had been the most

provident and economical of all monarchs, fearing (which indeed

happened) that the inheritor of his Empire should find himself in need

of money, would perhaps plunder his subjects, filled all the treasuries

to their brim with gold before he completed his span of life. All of

this Justinian immediately exhausted, between his senseless building

program on the coast and his lavish presents to the barbarians; though

one might have thought that it would take the most extravagant of

Emperors a hundred years to disburse such wealth. For the treasurers and

those in charge of the other imperial properties had been able, during

Anastasius's rule of more than twenty-seven years over the Romans,

easily to accumulate 3,200 gold centenaries; and of all these nothing at

all was left, for it had been squandered by this man while Justin still

lived; as I have already related.

 

What he illegally confiscated and wasted during his lifetime, no tale,

no reckoning, no count could ever make manifest. For like an ever

flowing river swallowing more each day he pillaged his subjects, to

disgorge it straightway on the barbarians.

 

Having thus carried away the public wealth, he turned his eye upon his

private subjects. Most of them he immediately robbed of their estates,

snatching them arbitrarily by force, bringing false charges against

whoever in Constantinople and each other city were reputed to be rich.

 

Some he accused of polytheism, others of heresy against the orthodox

Christian faith; some of pederasty, others of love affairs with nuns, or

other unlawful intercourse; some of starting sedition, or of favoring

the Greens, or treason against himself, or anything else; or he made

himself the arbitrary heir of the dead and even of the living, when he

could. Such were the subtleties of his actions. And how he profited from

the insurrection against himself which is called Nika, making himself

heir to the Senators, I have already shown; and how, some time before

the sedition broke out, he privately robbed each man of his estate.

 

To all the barbarians, on every occasion, he gave great sums: to those

of the East and those of the West ' to the North and to the South, as

far as Britain, and over all the inhabited earth; so that nations whose

very names we had never heard of, we now learned to know, seeing their

ambassadors for the first time. For when they learned of this man's

folly, they came to him and Constantinople in floods from the whole

world. And he with no hesitation, but overjoyed at this, and thinking it

good luck to drain the Romans of their prosperity and fling it to

barbarian men or to the waves of the sea, daily sent each one home with

his arms full of presents.

 

Thus all the barbarians became masters of all the wealth of the Romans,

either being presented with it by the Emperor, or by ravaging the Roman

Empire, selling their prisoners for ransom, and bartering for truces.

And the prophecy of the dream I mentioned above, came to pass in this

visible reality.

 

 

20. DEBASING OF THE QUAESTORSHIP

 

He also had contrived other ways of plundering his subjects (which I

will now describe as well as I can) by which he robbed them, not all at

once, but little by little of their entire fortunes. First he appointed

a new municipal magistrate, with the power to license shopkeepers to

sell their wares at whatever prices they desired: for which privilege

they paid an annual tax. Accordingly, people buying their provisions in

these shops had to pay three times what the stuff was worth, and

complainants had no redress, though great harm was thus done; for the

magistrates saw to it that the imperial tax was fattened accordingly,

which was to their advantage. Thus the government officials shared in

this disgraceful business, while the shopkeepers, empowered to act

illegally, cheated unbearably those who had to buy from them, not only

by raising their prices many times over, as I have said, but by

defrauding customers in other unheard-of ways.

 

Again he licensed many monopolies, as they -are called; selling the

freedom of his subjects to those who were willing to undertake this

reprehensible traffic, after he had exacted his price for the privilege.

To those who made this arrangement with him, he gave the power to manage

the business however they pleased; and he sold this privilege openly,

even to all the other magistrates. And since the Emperor always got his

little share of the plundering, these officials and their subordinates

in charge of the work, did their robbing with small anxiety.

 

As if the formerly appointed magistrates were not enough for this

purpose, he created two new ones; though the municipal Prefect had

formerly been able to look after all criminal charges. His real reason

for the change was, of course, so that he could have additional

informers, and thus misuse the innocent with more celerity. Of the two

new officials, one, nominally appointed to punish thieves, was called

Praetor of the People; the other was charged with the punishment of

cases of pederasty, illegal intercourse with women, blasphemy, and

heresy; and his official name was Quaestor.

 

Now the Praetor, whenever he found anything very valuable among the

stolen goods that came to his notice, was supposed to give it to the

Emperor and say that no owner had appeared to claim it. In this way the

Emperor continually got possession of priceless goods. And the Quaestor,

when he condemned persons coming before him, confiscated as much as he

pleased of their properties, and the Emperor shared with him each time

in the lawlessly gained riches of other people. For the subordinates of

these magistrates neither produced accusers nor offered witnesses when

these cases came to trial, but during all this time the accused were put

to death, and their properties seized without due trial and examination.

 

Later, this murdering devil ordered these officials and the municipal

Prefect to deal with all criminal charges on equal terms: telling them

to vie with each other to see which of them could destroy the most

people in the shortest time. And one of them asked him at once, they

say, "If somebody is sometime denounced before all three of us, which of

us shall have jurisdiction over the case?" Whereupon he replied,

"Whichever of you acts faster than the rest."

 

Thus shamelessly he debased the Quaestor's office, which former emperors

almost without exception had held in high regard, taking care that the

men they appointed to it were experienced and wise, law-abiding, and

uncorruptible by bribes; since otherwise it would be a calamity to the

state, if men holding this high office were ignorant or avaricious.

 

But the first man that this Emperor appointed to the office was

Tribonian, whose actions I have fully related elsewhere. And when

Tribonian departed from this world, Justinian seized a portion of his

estate, though a son and many other children were left destitute when

the fellow ended the final day of his life. Junilus, a Libyan, was next

appointed to this office: a man who had never even heard the law, for he

was not a rhetorician; he knew the Latin letters, but as far as Greek

went, he had never even gone to school, and was unable to speak the

language. Frequently when he tried to say a Greek word, he was laughed

at by his servants. And he was so damned greedy for base gain, that he

thought nothing of publicly selling the Emperor's decrees. For one gold

coin he would hold out his palm to anybody without hesitation. And for

not less than seven years' time the State shared the ridicule earned by

this petty grafter.

 

When Junilus completed the measure of his life, Constantine was

appointed Quaestor: a man not unacquainted with law, but exceeding

young, and without actual experience in court; and the most thievish

bully among men. Of this person Justinian was very fond, and became his

bosom friend, since through him the Emperor saw he could steal and run

the office as he wished. Consequently, Constantine had great wealth in a

short time, and assumed an air of prodigious pomp, with his nose in the

clouds despising all men; and even those who wanted to offer him large

bribes had to entrust them to those who were in his special confidence,

to offer him together with their requests; for it was never possible to

meet or talk with him, except when he was running to the Emperor or had

just left him, and even then he trotted by in a great hurry, lest his

time be wasted by somebody who had no money to give him. This is what

the Emperor did to the quaestorship.

 

 

21. THE SKY TAX, AND HOW BORDER ARMIES WERE FORBIDDEN TO PUNISH

INVADING BARBARIANS

 

The Prefect in charge of the praetors each year handed over to the

Emperor more than thirty centenaries in addition to the public taxes;

this tribute was called the sky tax, to show, I suppose, that it was not

a regular duty or assessment, but as it were fell into his hands by

chance out of the sky: it should have been called the villainy tax, for

in its name the magistrates robbed their subjects worse than ever, on

the ground they had to hand it over to the autocrat, while they

themselves acquired a king's fortune in no time. For this Justinian left