The Secret History of the Court of Justinian
by
Procopius

Part 3 out of 3



the markets, eager to fill their own pockets, in a short time acquired
great wealth, and, in spite of the cheapness of food, reduced the poor
to a state of artificial and unexpected famine; for they were not
allowed to import corn from any other parts, but were obliged to eat
bread purchased in the city.

One of the city aqueducts had broken, and a considerable portion of
the water destined for the use of the inhabitants was lost. Justinian,
however, took no notice of it, being unwilling to incur any expense
for repairs, although a great crowd continually thronged round the
fountains, and all the baths had been shut. Nevertheless, he expended
vast sums without any reason or sense upon buildings on the seashore,
and also built everywhere throughout the suburbs, as if the palaces,
in which their predecessors had always been content to live, were no
longer suitable for himself and Theodora; so that it was not merely
parsimony, but a desire for the destruction of human life, that
prevented him from repairing the aqueduct, for no one, from most
ancient times, had ever shown himself more eager than Justinian to
amass wealth, and at the same time to spend it in a most wasteful and
extravagant manner. Thus this Emperor struck at the poorest and most
miserable of his subjects through two most necessary articles of
food--bread and water, by making the one difficult to procure, and the
other too dear for them to buy.

It was not only the poor of Byzantium, however, that he harassed in
this manner, but, as I will presently mention, the inhabitants of
several other cities. When Theodoric had made himself master of Italy,
in order to preserve some trace of the old constitution, he permitted
the praetorian guards to remain in the palace and continued their
daily allowance. These soldiers were very numerous. There were the
Silentiarii, the Domestici, and the Scholares, about whom there was
nothing military except the name, and their salary was hardly
sufficient to live upon. Theodoric also ordered that their children
and descendants should have the reversion of this. To the poor, who
lived near the church of Peter the Apostle, he distributed every year
3,000 bushels of corn out of the public stores. All continued to
receive these donations until the arrival of Alexander Forficula[18]
in Italy. He resolved to deprive them of it immediately; and, when the
Emperor was informed of this, he approved of his conduct, and treated
Alexander with still greater honour. During his journey, Alexander
treated the Greeks in the following manner:--The peasants of the
district near the pass of Thermopylae had long manned the fortress,
and, each in turn, mounted guard over the wall which blocks the pass,
whenever there seemed any likelihood of an invasion of the barbarians.
But Alexander, on his arrival, pretended that it was to the interest
of the Peloponnesians not to leave the protection of the pass to the
peasants. He established a garrison of about 2,000 soldiers, who were
not paid out of the public funds, but by each of the cities in Greece.
On this pretext, he transferred to the public treasury all the
revenues of these towns which were intended for public purposes or to
cover the expenses of shows and entertainments. He pretended that it
was to be employed for the support of the soldiers, and in
consequence, from that time, no public buildings or other objects of
utility were erected or promoted either in Athens or throughout
Greece. Justinian, however, hastened to give his sanction to all the
acts of Forficula.

We must now speak of the poor of Alexandria. Amongst the lawyers of
that city was one Hephaestus, who, having been appointed governor,
suppressed popular disturbances by the terror he inspired, but at the
same time reduced the citizens to the greatest distress. He
immediately established a monopoly of all wares, which he forbade
other merchants to sell. He reserved everything for himself alone,
sold everything himself, and fixed the price by the capricious
exercise of his authority. Consequently, the city was in the greatest
distress from want of provisions; the poor no longer had a sufficient
supply of what was formerly sold at a low rate, and especially felt
the difficulty of obtaining bread; for the governor alone bought up
all the corn that came from Egypt, and did not allow anyone else to
purchase even so much as a bushel; and in this manner, he taxed the
loaves and put upon them what price he pleased. By this means he
amassed an enormous fortune, and was likewise careful to satisfy the
greed of the Emperor. So great was the terror inspired by Hephaestus,
that the people of Alexandria endured their ill-treatment in silence;
and the Emperor, out of gratitude for the money which flowed into his
exchequer from that quarter, conceived a great affection for
Hephaestus. The latter, in order to secure in a still greater degree
the favour of the Emperor, carried out the following plan. When
Diocletian became Emperor of the Romans, he ordered a yearly
distribution of corn to be made to the necessitous poor of Alexandria;
and the people, settling its distribution amongst themselves,
transmitted the right to their descendants. Hephaestus deprived the
necessitous of 2,000,000 bushels yearly, and deposited it in the
imperial granaries, declaring, in his despatch to the Emperor, that
this grant of corn had previously been made in a manner that was
neither just nor in conformity with the interests of the state. The
Emperor approved of his conduct and became more attached to him than
ever. The Alexandrians, whose hopes of existence depended upon this
distribution, felt the cruelty bitterly, especially at the time of
their distress.




CHAPTER XXVII


The evil deeds of Justinian were so numerous, that time would fail me
if I were to attempt to relate them all. It will therefore be
sufficient, if I select some of those which will exhibit his whole
character to posterity, and which clearly show his dissimulation, his
neglect of God, the priesthood, the laws, and the people which showed
itself devoted to him. He was utterly without shame; he had no care
for the interests or advantage of the state, and did not trouble
himself about excusing his misdeeds, or, in fact, about anything else
but how he might plunder and appropriate the wealth of the whole
world.

To begin with, he appointed Paul bishop of Alexandria, at the time
when Rhodon, a Phoenician by birth, was governor of the city. He
ordered him to show the greatest deference to the bishop, and to
execute all his instructions; for by this means he hoped to prevail
upon the chief persons of the city to support the council of
Chalcedon. There was also a certain Arsenius, a native of Palestine,
who had made himself most necessary to the Empress, and, in
consequence of her favour and the great wealth he had amassed, had
attained the rank of a senator, although he was a man of most
abandoned character. He belonged to the Samaritan sect, but, in order
to preserve his authority, he assumed the name of Christian. His
father and brother, who lived in Scythopolis, relying upon his
authority and following his advice, bitterly persecuted the Christians
in that city. Whereupon the citizens rose up against them, and put
them to death most cruelly, which afterwards proved the cause of much
misery to the inhabitants of Palestine. On that occasion neither
Justinian nor the Empress inflicted any punishment upon Arsenius,
although he was the principal cause of all those troubles. They
contented themselves with forbidding him to appear at court, in order
to satisfy the continued complaints that were preferred against him by
the Christians.

This Arsenius, thinking to gratify the Emperor, set out with Paul to
Alexandria to assist him generally, and, above all, to do his utmost
to aid him in securing the favour of the inhabitants; for, during the
time of his exclusion from the palace, he affirmed that he had made
himself thoroughly acquainted with all the doctrines of Christianity.
This displeased Theodora, who pretended to hold a different opinion to
the Emperor in religious matters, as I have already stated.

When they arrived at Alexandria, Paul delivered over the deacon Psoes
to the governor to be put to death, asserting that he was the only
obstacle in the way of the realisation of the Emperor's desires. The
governor, urged on by despatches from the Emperor, which frequently
arrived and were couched in pressing terms, ordered Psoes to be
flogged, and he died under the torture. When the news of this reached
the Emperor, at the earnest entreaty of Theodora, he expressed great
indignation against Paul, Rhodon, and Arsenius, as if he had forgotten
the orders he himself had given them. He appointed Liberius, a Roman
patrician, governor of Alexandria, and sent some priests of high
repute to investigate the matter. Amongst them was Pelagius,
archdeacon of Rome, who was commissioned by Pope Vigilius to act as
his agent. Paul, being convicted of murder, was deprived of his
bishopric; Rhodon, who had fled to Byzantium, was executed by order of
Justinian, and his estate confiscated, although he produced thirteen
despatches, in which the Emperor expressly ordered and insisted that
he should in everything act in accordance with Paul's orders, and
never oppose him, that he might have liberty to act as he pleased in
matters of religion. Arsenius was crucified by Liberius, in accordance
with instructions from Theodora; his estate was confiscated by the
Emperor, although he had no cause of complaint against him except his
intimacy with Paul. Whether in this he acted justly or not, I cannot
say; but I will afterwards state the reason why I have mentioned this
affair.

Some time afterwards Paul went to Byzantium, and, by the offer of
seven centenars of gold, endeavoured to persuade the Emperor to
reinstate him in his office, of which he said he had been unjustly
deprived. Justinian received the money affably, treated him with
respect, and promised to reinstate him as soon as possible, although
another at present held the office, as if he did not know that he
himself had put to death two of his best friends and supporters, and
confiscated their estates. The Emperor exerted all his efforts in this
direction, and there did not appear to be the least doubt that Paul
would be reinstated. But Vigilius, who at the time was in Byzantium,
resolved not to submit to the Emperor's orders in this matter, and
declared that it was impossible for him to annul by his own decision a
sentence which Pelagius had given in his name. So that, in everything,
Justinian's only object was to get money by any means whatsoever.

The following is a similar case. There was a Samaritan by birth, a
native of Palestine, who, having been compelled by the law to change
his religion, had become a Christian and taken the name of Faustinus.
This Faustinus became a member of the senate and governor of
Palestine; and when his time of office had expired, on his return to
Byzantium he was accused by certain priests of favouring the religion
and customs of the Samaritans and of having been guilty of great
cruelties towards the Christians in Palestine. Justinian appeared to
be very angry and expressed his indignation that, during his reign,
anyone should have the audacity to insult the name of Christian. The
members of the senate met to examine into the matter, and, at the
instance of the Emperor, Faustinus was banished. But Justinian, having
received large presents of money from him, immediately annulled the
sentence. Faustinus, restored to his former authority and the
confidence of the Emperor, was appointed steward of the imperial
domains in Palestine and Phoenicia, and was allowed to act in every
respect exactly as he pleased. These few instances are sufficient to
show how Justinian protected the Christian ordinances.




CHAPTER XXVIII


I must now briefly relate how he unhesitatingly abolished the laws
when money was in question. There was in Emesa a man named Priscus,
who was an expert forger and very clever in his art. The church of
Emesa, many years before, had been instituted sole heir to the
property of one of the most distinguished inhabitants named Mammianus,
a patrician of noble birth and of great wealth. During the reign of
Justinian, Priscus made a list of all the families of the town, taking
care to notice which were wealthy and able to disburse large sums. He
carefully hunted up the names of their ancestors, and, having found
some old documents in their handwriting, forged a number of
acknowledgments, in which they confessed that they were largely
indebted to Mammianus in sums of money which had been left with them
by him as a deposit. The amount of these forged acknowledgments was no
less than a hundred centenars of gold. He also imitated in a
marvellous manner the handwriting of a public notary, a man of
conspicuous honesty and virtue, who during the lifetime of Mammianus
used to draw up all their documents for the citizens, sealing them
with his own hand, and delivered these forged documents to those who
managed the ecclesiastical affairs of Emesa, on condition that he
should receive part of the money which might be obtained in this
manner.

But, since there was a law which limited all legal processes to a
period of thirty years, except in cases of mortgage and certain
others, in which the prescription extended to forty years, they
resolved to go to Byzantium and, offering a large sum of money to the
Emperor, to beg him to assist them in their project of ruining their
fellow-citizens.

The Emperor accepted the money, and immediately published a decree
which ordained that affairs relating to the Church should not be
restricted to the ordinary prescription, but that anything might be
recovered, if claimed within a hundred years: which regulation was to
be observed not only in Emesa, but throughout the whole of the Roman
Empire. In order to see that the new rule was put into execution, he
sent Longinus to Emesa, a man of great vigour and bodily strength, who
was afterwards made praefect of Byzantium. Those who had the
management of the affairs of the church of Emesa, acting upon the
forged documents, sued some of the citizens for two centenars of gold,
which they were condemned to pay, being unable to raise any objection,
by reason of the length of time elapsed and their ignorance of the
facts. All the inhabitants, and especially the principal citizens,
were in great distress and highly incensed against their accusers.
When ruin already threatened the majority of the citizens, Providence
came to their assistance in a most unexpected manner. Longinus ordered
Priscus, the contriver of this detestable invention, to bring him all
the acknowledgments; and, when he showed himself unwilling to do so,
he dealt him a violent blow in the face. Priscus, unable to resist
the blow dealt by a man of such bodily strength, fell backwards upon
the ground, trembling and affrighted. Believing that Longinus had
discovered the whole affair, he confessed; and, the whole trick being
thus brought to light, the suits were stopped.

Justinian, not content with subverting the laws of the Roman Empire
every day, exerted himself in like manner to do away with those of the
Jews; for, if Easter came sooner in their calendar than in that of the
Christians, he did not allow them to celebrate the Passover on their
own proper day or to make their offerings to God, or to perform any of
their usual solemnities. The magistrates even inflicted heavy fines
upon several of them, upon information that they had eaten the
paschal lamb during that time, as if it were an infraction of the laws
of the state. Although I could mention countless acts of this nature
committed by Justinian, I will not do so, for I must draw my narrative
to a close. What I have said will be sufficient to indicate the
character of the man.




CHAPTER XXIX


I will, however, mention two instances of his falsehood and hypocrisy.

After having deprived Liberius (of whom I have spoken above) of his
office, he put in his place John, an Egyptian by birth, surnamed
Laxarion. When Pelagius, who was a particular friend of Liberius,
heard of this, he inquired of Justinian whether what he had heard was
true. The Emperor immediately denied it, and protested that he had
done nothing of the kind. He then gave Pelagius a letter in which
Liberius was ordered to hold fast to his government and by no means to
give it up, and added that he had no present intention of removing
Liberius. At that time there resided in Byzantium an uncle of John
named Eudaemon, a man of consular rank and great wealth, who had the
management of the imperial estates. Having been informed of what had
taken place, he also inquired of the Emperor whether his nephew was
assured in his government. Justinian, saying nothing about his letter
to Liberius, sent John positive orders to hold fast to his government,
since his views were still the same concerning it. Trusting to this,
John ordered Liberius to quit the governor's palace, as having been
deprived of his office. Liberius refused, placing equal reliance in
the Emperor's despatch. John, having armed his followers, marched
against Liberius, who defended himself with his guards. An engagement
took place, in which several were slain, and amongst them John, the
new governor.

At the earnest entreaty of Eudaemon, Liberius was immediately summoned
to Byzantium. The matter was investigated before the senate, and
Liberius was acquitted, as being only guilty of justifiable homicide
in self-defence. Justinian, however, did not let him escape, until he
had forced him to give him a considerable sum of money privately. Such
was the great respect Justinian showed for the truth, and such was the
faithfulness with which he kept his promises. I will here permit
myself a brief digression, which may not be irrelevant. This Eudaemon
died shortly afterwards, leaving behind him a large number of
relatives, but no will, either written or verbal. About the same time,
the chief eunuch of the court, named Euphratas, also died intestate;
he left behind him a nephew, who would naturally have succeeded to his
property, which was considerable. The Emperor took possession of both
fortunes, appointing himself sole heir, not even leaving so much as a
three-obol piece to the legal inheritors. Such was the respect
Justinian showed for the laws and the kinsmen of his intimate friends.
In the same manner, without having the least claim to it, he seized
the fortune of Irenaeus, who had died some time before.

Another event which took place about this time I cannot omit. There
lived at Ascalon a man named Anatolius, the most distinguished member
of the senate. His daughter, his only child and heiress, was married
to a citizen of Caesarea, named Mamilianus, a man of distinguished
family. There was an ancient statute which provided that, whenever a
senator died without male issue, the fourth part of his estate should
go to the senate of the town, and the rest to the heirs-at-law. On
this occasion Justinian gave a striking proof of his character. He had
recently made a law which reversed this,--that, when a senator died
without male issue, the fourth part only should go to the heirs, the
three other parts being divided between the senate and the public
treasury, although it had never happened before that the estate of any
senator had been shared between the public treasury and the Emperor.

Anatolius died while this law was in force. His daughter was preparing
to divide her inheritance with the public treasury and the senate of
the town in accordance with the law, when she received letters from
the senate of Ascalon and from the Emperor himself, in which they
resigned all claim to the money, as if they had received their due.
Afterwards Mamilianus (the son-in-law of Anatolius) died, leaving one
daughter, the legal heiress to his estate. The daughter soon
afterwards died, during her mother's lifetime, after having been
married to a person of distinction, by whom, however, she had no
issue, either male or female. Justinian then immediately seized the
whole estate, giving utterance to the strange opinion, that it would
be a monstrous thing that the daughter of Anatolius, in her old age,
should be enriched by the property of both her husband and father.
However, to keep her from want, he ordered that she should receive a
stater of gold a day, as long as she lived; and, in the decree whereby
he deprived her of all her property, he declared that he bestowed this
stater upon her for the sake of religion, seeing that he was always in
the habit of acting with piety and virtue.

I will now show that he cared nothing even for the Blue faction, which
showed itself devoted to him, when it was a question of money. There
was amongst the Cilicians a certain Malthanes, the son-in-law of that
Leo who had held the office of "Referendary," whom Justinian
commissioned to put down seditious movements in the country. On this
pretext, Malthanes treated most of the inhabitants with great cruelty.
He robbed them of their wealth, sent part to the Emperor, and claimed
the rest for himself. Some endured their grievances in silence; but
the inhabitants of Tarsus who belonged to the Blue faction, confident
of the protection of the Empress, assembled in the market-place and
abused Malthanes, who at the time was not present. When he heard of
it, he immediately set out with a body of soldiers, reached Tarsus by
night, sent his soldiers into the houses at daybreak, and ordered them
to put the inhabitants to death. The Blues, imagining that it was an
attack from a foreign foe, defended themselves as best they could.
During the dark, amongst other misfortunes, Damianus, a member of the
senate and president of the Blues in Tarsus, was slain by an arrow.

When the news reached Byzantium, the Blues assembled in the streets
with loud murmurs of indignation, and bitterly complained to the
Emperor of the affair, uttering the most violent threats against Leo
and Malthanes. The Emperor pretended to be as enraged as they were,
and immediately ordered an inquiry to be made into the conduct of the
latter. But Leo, by the present of a considerable sum of money,
appeased him, so that the process was stopped, and the Emperor ceased
to show favour to the Blues. Although the affair remained
uninvestigated, the Emperor received Malthanes, who came to Byzantium
to pay his respects, with great kindness and treated him with honour.
But, as he was leaving the Emperor's presence, the Blues, who had been
on the watch, attacked him in the palace, and would certainly have
slain him, had not some of their own party, bribed by Leo, prevented
them. Who would not consider that state to be in a most pitiable
condition, in which the sovereign allows himself to be bribed to leave
charges uninvestigated, and in which malcontents venture without
hesitation to attack one of the magistrates within the precincts of
the palace, and to lay violent hands upon him? However, no punishment
was inflicted either upon Malthanes or his assailants, which is a
sufficient proof of the character of Justinian.




CHAPTER XXX


His regulations as to the public "posts" and "spies" will show how
much he cared for the interests of the state. The earlier Emperors, in
order to gain the most speedy information concerning the movements of
the enemy in each territory, seditions or unforeseen accidents in
individual towns, and the actions of the governors and other officials
in all parts of the Empire, and also in order that those who conveyed
the yearly tribute might do so without danger or delay, had
established a rapid service of public couriers according to the
following system:--As a day's journey for an active man, they settled
eight stages, sometimes fewer, but never less than five. There were
forty horses in each stage and a number of grooms in proportion. The
couriers who were intrusted with this duty, by making use of relays of
excellent horses, frequently covered as much ground in one day by this
means as they would otherwise have covered in ten, when carrying out
the above commissions. In addition, the landed proprietors in each
country, especially those whose estates were in the interior, reaped
great benefit from these posts; for, by selling their surplus corn and
fruit every year to the state for the support of the horses and
grooms, they gained considerable revenue. By this means the state
received, without interruption, the tribute due from each, and, in
turn, reimbursed those who furnished it, and thus everything was to
the advantage of the state. Such was the old system. But Justinian,
having commenced by suppressing the post between Chalcedon and
Dakibiza, compelled the couriers to carry all despatches from
Byzantium to Helenopolis by sea. They unwillingly obeyed; for, being
obliged to embark upon small skiffs, such as were generally used for
crossing the strait, they ran great risk of being shipwrecked, if they
met with stormy weather. For, since great speed was enjoined upon
them, they were unable to wait for a favourable opportunity for
putting out to sea, when the weather was calm. It is true that he
maintained the primitive system on the road to Persia, but for the
rest of the East, as far as Egypt, he reduced the number of posts to
one, for a day's journey, and substituted a few asses for the horses,
so that the report of what was taking place in each district only
reached Byzantium with difficulty and long after the events had
occurred, when it was too late to apply any remedy; and, on the other
hand, the owners of estates found no benefit from their products,
which were either spoilt or lay idle.

The spies were organized in the following manner:--A number of men
used to be supported at the state's expense, whose business it was to
visit hostile countries, especially the court of Persia, on pretence
of business or some other excuse, and to observe accurately what was
going on; and by this means, on their return, they were able to report
to the Emperors all the secret plans of their enemies, and the former,
being warned in advance, took precautions and were never surprised.
This system had long been in vogue amongst the Medes. Chosroes, by
giving larger salaries to his spies, none of whom were born Romans,
reaped great benefit from this precaution. Justinian, having
discontinued this practice, lost considerable territory, especially
the country of the Lazes, which was taken by the enemy, since the
Romans had no information where the King and his army were. The state
also formerly kept a large number of camels, which carried the baggage
on the occasion of an expedition into an hostile country. By this
means the peasants were relieved from the necessity of carrying
burdens, and the soldiers were well supplied with necessaries.
Justinian, however, did away with nearly all the camels, so that, when
the army is marching against an enemy, everything is in an
unsatisfactory condition. Such was the care he took of the most
important state institutions. It will not be out of place to mention
one of his ridiculous acts. There was at Caesarea a lawyer named
Evangelius, a person of distinction, who, by the favour of fortune,
had amassed great riches and considerable landed estates. He
afterwards purchased, for three centenars of gold, a village on the
coast named Porphyreon. When Justinian heard of this, he immediately
took it from him, only returning him a small portion of the price he
had paid for it, at the same time declaring that it was unseemly that
such a village should belong to Evangelius the lawyer. But enough of
this. It remains to speak of certain innovations introduced by
Justinian and Theodora. Formerly, when the senate had audience of the
Emperor, it paid him homage in the following manner:--Every patrician
kissed him on the right breast, and the Emperor, having kissed him on
the head, dismissed him; all the rest bent the right knee before the
Emperor and retired. As for the Empress, it was not customary to do
homage to her. But those who were admitted to the presence of this
royal pair, even those of patrician rank, were obliged to prostrate
themselves upon their face, with hands and feet stretched out; and,
after having kissed both his feet, they rose up and withdrew. Nor did
Theodora refuse this honour. She received the ambassadors of the
Persians and other barbarian nations and (a thing which had never been
done before) bestowed magnificent presents upon them, as if she had
been absolute mistress of the Empire. Formerly, those who associated
with the Emperor called him Imperator and the Empress Imperatrix, and
the other officials according to their rank. But if anyone addressed
either Justinian or Theodora without the addition of the title
Sovereign Lord or Sovereign Lady, or without calling himself their
slave, he was looked upon as ignorant and insolent in his language,
and, as if he had committed a very grave offence and insulted those
whom it least became him, he was dismissed. Formerly, only a few were
granted admission to the palace, and that with difficulty; but, from
the time of the accession of Justinian and Theodora, the magistrates
and all other persons were continually in the palace. The reason was,
that formerly the magistrates freely administered justice and laws
independently, and executed the customary sentences at their own
residences, and the subjects, seeing and hearing that no injustice
would be done to them, had little reason to trouble the Emperor. But
this pair, taking control of all business to themselves in order that
they might ruin their subjects, forced them to humiliate themselves
before them in a most servile manner. Thus the courts of justice were
empty nearly every day, and hardly a person was to be seen in them,
while in the palace there were crowds of men pushing and abusing one
another, all endeavouring to be foremost in showing their servility.
Those who were on the most intimate terms with the Imperial pair
remained the whole day and a great part of the night, without food or
sleep, until they were worn out, and this apparent good fortune was
their only reward. Others, who were free from all these cares and
anxieties, were puzzled to think what had become of the wealth and
treasures of the Empire. Some declared that it had all fallen into the
hands of the barbarians, while others asserted that the Emperor kept
it locked up in secret hiding-places of his own. When
Justinian--whether he be man or devil--shall have departed this life,
those who are then living will be able to learn the truth.


NOTES

[1: By Mr. Hodgkin, "Italy and her Invaders," vol. iii., p. 638.]

[2: The best modern authorities are agreed that he was really the
author.]

[3: Or, rather, three, the fourth being only a kind of supplement.]

[4: As internal evidence in favour of the identity of the author of
the "Secret History," and the "Wars" and "Buildings," the few
following points, amongst many, may be noticed. The reference in the
preface to the "History of the Wars," that the author was born at
Caesarea, is more closely defined by the statement in the "Secret
History" that he was from Caesarea in Palestine; in both works an
account of the relations of Justinian to the Church is promised, but
the promise is not fulfilled. The "Secret History" refers to the
extravagant "building" mania of the Emperor. In all three works we
meet with a constant recurrence of the same ideas, the same outspoken
language, greatly embittered in the "Secret History," the same
fanatical pragmatism, the same association of luck, destiny, and
divinity, of guilt and expiation, the same superstition in the forms
of demonology, belief in dreams and miracles, and lastly the same
commonplaces, expressions, and isolated words.]

[5: "Decline and Fall," chap. xl.]

[6: The AEdificia, or "Buildings," of Justinian.]

[7: The article on _Procopius_ in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (9th
edition) by Professor Bryce should also be consulted.]

[8: Spearmen, lancers.]

[9: Shield-bearers.]

[10: Or "Count," Master of the royal stables.]

[11: Pumpkin.]

[12: Private secretaries.]

[13: Syn[=o]n[=e].]

[14: Epibol[=e].]

[15: Diagraph[=e].]

[16: Here the text is corrupt.]

[17: Chancellors, or, Commissioners.]

[18: Shears, scissors.]







 


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