These excesses took place not only in Byzantium, but in every city of
the Empire: for these disorders were like bodily diseases, and spread
from thence over the whole Roman Empire. But the Emperor cared not at
all for what was going on, although he daily beheld what took place in
the hippodrome, for he was exceedingly stupid, very much like a
dull-witted ass, which follows whoever holds its bridle, shaking its
ears the while. This behaviour on the part of Justinian ruined
everything.
As soon as he found himself the head of his uncle's empire, he at once
did his utmost to squander the public treasure over which he now had
control. For he lavished wealth extravagantly upon the Huns who from
time to time came across and, ever afterwards, the Roman provinces
were subjected to constant incursions; for these barbarians, having
once tasted our wealth, could not tear themselves away from the road
which led to it. Justinian also threw away great sums upon the
construction of large moles, as if he thought to restrain the force of
the never-resting waves. He ran out stone breakwaters from the beach
far into the water to divert the currents of the ocean, and, as it
were, to match his wealth against the power of the sea.
As for the private fortunes of individual Romans, he confiscated them
for his own use in all parts of the empire, either by accusing their
possessors of some crime of which they were innocent, or by distorting
their words into a free gift of their property to him. Many were
convicted on these charges of murder and other crimes, and in order to
escape paying the penalty for them, gave him all that they had. Some
who were engaged in making frivolous claims to land belonging to their
neighbours, when they found that they had no chance of winning their
cause, as the law was against them, would make him a present of the
land in dispute, and so get out of the difficulty. Thus they gained
his favour by a gift that cost them nothing, and got the better of
their adversaries by the most illegal means.
It will not be out of place, I think, to describe his personal
appearance. He was neither tall nor too short, but of a medium height,
not thin, but inclined to be fat. His face was round and not
ill-favoured, and showed colour, even after a two days' fast. In a
word, he greatly resembled Domitian, Vespasian's son, more than
anybody else. This was the Emperor whom the Romans detested so much
that they could not slake their hatred for him, even when they had
torn him to pieces, but a decree of the Senate was passed to remove
his name from all documents, and that all statues of him should be
destroyed; wherefore his name has been erased from every inscription
at Rome and everywhere else, except where it occurs in a list together
with other emperors, and no statue of him is to be found in the Roman
Empire, save one only, the history of which is as follows: Domitian
had married a lady of noble birth and admirable conduct, who never
harmed anyone, and always disapproved of her husband's evil deeds. As
she was so much beloved, the Senate sent for her, after the death of
Domitian, and bade her ask whatever favour she pleased. All that she
asked was to receive Domitian's body for burial, and permission to
erect a bronze statue to him in whatever place she might choose. The
Senate consented, and Domitian's wife, not wishing to leave to
posterity a memorial of the brutality of those who had butchered her
husband, adopted the following plan. She collected the pieces of his
body, pieced them accurately together, joined them properly, and sewed
the body together again. She then sent for the statuaries, and bade
them reproduce this pitiable object in a brazen statue. The workmen
straightway made the statue, and his wife, having received it from
them, set it up in the street which leads up to the Capitol from the
Forum, on the right hand side, where to this day one may see
Domitian's statue, showing the marks of his tragic end. One may say
that the whole of Justinian's person, his expression, and all his
features can be traced in this statue.
Such was his portrait; but it would be exceedingly difficult to give
an accurate estimate of his character; he was an evil-doer, and yet
easily led by the nose, being, in common parlance, a fool as well as a
knave. He never was truthful with anyone, but always spoke and acted
cunningly, yet any who chose could easily outwit him. His character
was a sorry mixture of folly and bad principles. One may say of him
what one of the Peripatetic philosophers of old said long ago, that in
men, as in the mixing of colours, the most opposite qualities combine.
I will therefore only describe his disposition as far as I have been
able to fathom it.
This prince was deceitful, fond of crooked ways, artificial, given to
hiding his wrath, double-faced, and cruel, exceedingly clever in
concealing his thoughts, and never moved to tears either by joy or
grief, but capable of weeping if the occasion required it. He was
always a liar not merely on the spur of the moment; he drew up
documents and swore the most solemn oaths to respect the covenants
which he made with his subjects; then he would straightway break his
plighted word and his oath, like the vilest of slaves, who perjure
themselves and are only driven to confess through fear of torture. He
was a faithless friend, an inexorable foe, and mad for murder and
plunder; quarrelsome and revolutionary, easily led to do evil, never
persuaded to act rightly, he was quick to contrive and carry out what
was evil, but loathed even to hear of good actions.
How could any man fully describe Justinian's character? He had all
these vices and other even greater ones, in larger proportion than any
man; indeed, Nature seemed to have taken away all other men's vices
and to have implanted them all in this man's breast. Besides all this,
he was ever disposed to give ear to accusations, and quick to punish.
He never tried a case before deciding it, but as soon as he had heard
the plaintiff he straightway pronounced his judgment upon it. He wrote
decrees, without the slightest hesitation, for the capture of
fortresses, the burning of cities, the enslaving of whole races of men
for no crime whatever, so that, if anyone were to reckon all the
calamities of this nature which have befallen the Roman people before
his time, and weigh them against those which were brought about by
him, I imagine that it would be found that this man was guilty of far
more bloodshed than any ruler of previous times.
He had no hesitation in coolly appropriating people's property, and
did not even trouble himself to put forward any pretext or colourable
legal ground for taking another man's goods; and, when he had got it,
he was quite ready to squander it in foolish munificence or to spend
it in unreasonable largesses to the barbarians. In fine, he neither
had any property himself, nor would he suffer anyone else of all his
subjects to have any; so that he did not seem to be so much governed
by avarice as by jealousy of those who possessed wealth. He carelessly
drove all the wealth of the Romans out of the country, and was the
cause of general impoverishment. Such was the character of Justinian,
as far as I am able to describe it.