Those who were considered the wealthiest persons in Byzantium and the
other cities of the Empire, next after members of the Senate, were
robbed of their wealth by Justinian and Theodora in the manner which I
have described above. I shall now describe how they managed to take
away all the property of members of the Senate.
There was at Constantinople one Zeno, the grandson of that Anthemius
who formerly had been Emperor of the West. They sent this man to Egypt
as governor. He delayed his departure, while he loaded his ship with
precious valuables; for he had silver beyond any man's counting, and
gold plate set with pearls and emeralds, and with other like precious
stones. But Justinian and Theodora bribed some of those who passed for
his most faithful servants, to take everything out of the ship as fast
as they could, set it on fire in the hold, and then go and tell Zeno
that his ship had taken fire of its own accord, and that all his
property was lost. Some time after this Zeno died suddenly, and they
took possession of his property as his heirs, producing a will which,
it is currently reported, was never made by him.
In like manner they made themselves the heirs of Tatian, of
Demosthenes, and of Hilara, persons who at that time held the first
rank in the Roman Senate. They obtained other persons' fortunes by the
production, not of formal wills, but of counterfeit conveyances. This
was how they became the heirs of Dionysius, who dwelt in Libanus, and
of John the son of Basil, who was the leading man in Edessa, and had
been delivered up to the Persians as a hostage against his will by
Belisarius, as I have told already. Chosroes kept this John a
prisoner, and refused to let him go, declaring that the Romans had not
performed all the terms of the treaty for which John had been given in
pledge by Belisarius, but he was prepared to let him be ransomed as a
prisoner of war. His grandmother, who was still alive, got together
the money for his ransom, not less than two thousand pounds of silver,
and would have ransomed her grandson; but when this money arrived at
Dara, the Emperor heard of the transaction and forbade it, that the
wealth of Romans might not be conveyed to barbarians. Not long after
this John fell ill and died; whereupon the governor of the city forged
a letter which he said John had written to him as a friend not long
before, to the effect that he desired the Emperor to succeed to his
property.
I could not give the list of all the other people whose heirs
Justinian and Theodora became by the free will of the testators.
However, up to the time of the insurrection called Nika, they only
plundered rich men of their property one by one; but when this broke
out, as I have described in my former works, they then sequestrated
nearly all the property of the Senate. They laid their hands upon all
movables and the finest parts of the estates, but set apart such lands
as were burdened with grievous imposts, and, under pretence of
kindness, restored them to their former possessors. So these people,
oppressed by the tax-gatherers, and tormented by the never-ceasing
interest to be paid upon their debts, became weary of their lives.
For the reasons which I have stated, I, and many of my position, never
believed that they were really two human beings, but evil demons, and
what the poets call scourges of mankind, who laid their heads together
to see how they could fastest and most easily destroy the race and the
works of man, but who had assumed human forms, and become something
between men and demons, and thus convulsed the whole world. One can
find proofs of this theory more particularly in the superhuman power
with which they acted.
There is a wide distinction between the human and the supernatural.
Many men have been born in every age who, either by circumstances or
their own character, have shown themselves terrible beings, who became
the ruin of cities, countries, and whatever else fell into their
hands; but to destroy all men and to ruin the whole earth has been
granted to none save these two, who have been helped by Fortune in
their schemes to destroy the whole human race. For, about this time,
much ruin was caused by earthquakes, pestilences and inundations of
rivers, as I shall immediately tell you. Thus it was not by mere human
power, but by something greater, that they were enabled to work their
evil will.
It is said that Justinian's mother told some of her intimates that
Justinian was not the son of Sabbatius, her husband, or of any human
being; but that, at the time when she became pregnant, an unseen demon
companied with her, whom she only felt as when a man has connection
with a woman, and who then vanished away as in a dream.
Some who have been in Justinian's company in the palace very late at
night, men with a clear conscience, have thought that in his place
they have beheld a strange and devilish form. One of them said that
Justinian suddenly arose from his royal throne and walked about
(although, indeed, he never could sit still for long), and that at
that moment his head disappeared, while the rest of his body still
seemed to move to and fro. The man who beheld this stood trembling and
troubled in mind, not knowing how to believe his eyes. Afterwards the
head joined the body again, and united itself to the parts from which
it had so strangely been severed.
Another declared that he stood beside Justinian as he sat, and of a
sudden his face turned into a shapeless mass of flesh, without either
eyebrows or eyes in their proper places, or anything else which makes
a man recognisable; but after a while he saw the form of his face come
back again. What I write here I did not see myself, but I heard it
told by men who were positive that they had seen it.
They say, too, that a certain monk, highly in favour with God, was
sent to Byzantium by those who dwelt with him in the desert, to beg
that favour might be shown to their neighbours, who had been wronged
and outraged beyond endurance. When he arrived at Byzantium, he
straightway obtained an audience of the Emperor; but just as he was
about to enter his apartment, he started back, and, turning round,
suddenly withdrew. The eunuch, who was escorting him, and also the
bystanders, besought him earnestly to go forward, but he made no
answer, but like one who has had a stroke of the palsy, made his way
back to his lodging. When those who had come with him asked why he
acted thus, they say that he distinctly stated that he saw the chief
of the devils sitting on his throne in the midst of the palace, and he
would not meet him or ask anything of him. How can one believe this
man to have been anything but an evil demon, who never took his fill
of drink, food, or sleep, but snatched at the meals which were set
before him anyhow, and roamed about the palace at untimely hours of
the night, and yet was so passionately addicted to venery.
Some of Theodora's lovers, when she was still on the stage, declare
that a demon had fallen upon them and driven them out of her
bedchamber that it might pass the night with her. There was a dancer
named Macedonia, who belonged to the Blue faction at Antioch, and had
very great influence with Justinian. This woman used to write letters
to him while Justin was still on the throne, and thus easily made away
with any great man in the East whom she chose, and caused their
property to be confiscated for the public use. They say that this
Macedonia once greeted Theodora, when she saw her very much troubled
and cast down at the ill-treatment which she had received at the hands
of Hecebolius, and at the loss of her money on her journey, and
encouraged and cheered her, bidding her remember the fickleness of
fortune, which might again grant her great possessions. They say that
Theodora used to tell how, that night, she had a dream which bade her
take no thought about money, for that when she came to Byzantium, she
would share the bed of the chief of the demons; that she must manage
by all means to become his wedded wife, and that afterwards she would
have all the wealth of the world at her disposal.
This was the common report in regard to these matters.