I will now proceed to mention another mode in which he plundered his
subjects. Those who, at Byzantium, serve the Emperor or magistrates,
either as secretaries, or in a military or any other capacity, are
placed last upon the list of officials. As time goes on, they are
gradually promoted to the place of those who have died or retired,
until they reach the highest rank and supreme dignity. Those who had
attained to this honour, in accordance with an ancient institution,
had the right to the enjoyment of a fund of not less than 100
centenars of gold yearly, so that they might have a comfortable means
of subsistence for their old age, and might be able to assist others
as much as possible; and this was of great influence in bringing about
a successful administration of the affairs of state. But Justinian
deprived them of all their privileges, and did great harm, not only to
them, but to many others besides, for the poverty which attacked them
extended to all those who formerly shared their prosperity. If anyone
were to calculate the sums of which they were thus deprived during
these thirty-two years, he would find that the amount was very
considerable. Such was the shameful manner in which the tyrant treated
his soldiers.
I will now relate how he behaved towards merchants, mariners,
artisans, shopkeepers and others. There are two narrow straits on
either side of Byzantium, the one in the Hellespont, between Sestos
and Abydos, the other at the mouth of the Euxine Sea, close to the
chapel of the Holy Mother. In the strait upon the Hellespont, there
was no public custom-house, but an officer was sent by the Emperor to
Abydos, to see that no ship loaded with arms should pass on the way to
Byzantium without the Emperor's leave, and also that no person should
put out to sea from Byzantium without letters of licence signed by the
proper official, no ship being allowed to leave the city without the
permission of the secretaries of the Master of Offices. The amount
which the praetor exacted from the shipmasters under the name of toll
was so insignificant that it was disregarded. A praetor was also sent
to the other strait, who received his salary regularly from the
Emperor, and whose duties were the same--to take care that no one
transported to the barbarians on the Euxine any wares, the export of
which to hostile countries was forbidden; but he was not allowed to
exact any duties from these navigators. But, from the day that
Justinian succeeded to the government of affairs, he established a
custom-house on both straits, and sent thither two officials to
collect the dues at a fixed salary, who were ordered to get in as much
money as they could. These officials, who desired nothing better than
to show their devotion to him, extorted duty upon all kinds of
merchandise. In regard to the port of Byzantium, he made the following
arrangement:--He put it in charge of one of his confidants, a Syrian
by birth, named Addeus, whom he ordered to exact duty from all vessels
which put in there. This Addeus would not allow those ships which had
been any length of time in the harbour to leave it, until the masters
had paid a sum of money to free them, or else he compelled them to
take on board a freight for Libya or Italy. Some, resolved not to take
in a return cargo or to remain at sea any longer, burned their ships
and thus escaped all anxiety, to their great rejoicing. But all those
who were obliged to continue their profession in order to live, for
the future demanded three times the usual amount from merchants for
the hire of the ships, and thus the merchants had no means of covering
their losses except by requiring a higher price from purchasers; and
thus, by every possible contrivance, the Romans were reduced to the
danger of starvation. Such was the general state of affairs. I must
not, however, omit to state the manner in which the rulers dealt with
the small coinage. The money-changers had formerly been accustomed to
give 210 obols (called Pholes) for a single gold stater. Justinian and
Theodora, for their own private gain, ordered that only 180 obols
should be given for the stater, and by this means deprived the public
of a sixth part of each piece of gold. Having established "monopolies"
upon most wares, they incessantly harassed would-be purchasers. The
only thing left free from duty was clothes, but, in regard to these
also, the imperial pair contrived to extort money. Silken garments had
for a long time been made in Berytus and Tyre, cities of Phoenicia.
The merchants and workmen connected with the trade had been settled
there from very early times, and from thence the business had spread
throughout the world. During the reign of Justinian, those who lived
in Byzantium and other cities raised the price of their silks, on the
plea that at the present time they were dearer in Persia, and that the
import tithes were higher. The Emperor pretended to be exceedingly
indignant at this, and subsequently published an edict forbidding a
pound of silk to be sold for more than eight gold pieces; anyone who
disobeyed the edict was to be punished by the confiscation of his
property. This measure appeared altogether impracticable and absurd.
For it was not possible for the merchants, who had bought their wares
at a much higher price, to sell it to customers at a lower rate. They
accordingly resolved to give up this business, and secretly and
without delay disposed of their remaining wares to certain well-known
persons, who took delight in wasting their money upon such adornments,
and to whom it had become in a manner an absolute necessity. Theodora
heard of this from certain persons who whispered it confidentially,
and, without taking the trouble to verify the report, she immediately
deprived these persons of their wares, and, in addition, inflicted
upon them a fine of a centenar of gold. At the present time, the
imperial treasurer is charged with the superintendence of this trade.
When Peter Barsyames held the office, they soon allowed him all manner
of licence in carrying out his nefarious practices. He demanded that
all the rest should carefully observe the law, and compelled those who
were engaged in the silk factories to work for himself alone. Without
taking any trouble to conceal it, he sold an ounce of any ordinary
coloured silk in the public market-place for six pieces of gold, but
if it was of the royal dye, called Holovere, he asked more than
four-and-twenty for it. In this manner he procured vast sums of money
for the Emperor, and even larger sums, which he kept privately for
himself; and this practice, begun by him, continued. The grand
treasurer is at this moment avowedly the only silk merchant and sole
controller of the market. All those who formerly carried on this
business, either in Byzantium or any other city, workers on sea or
land, felt the loss severely. Nearly the whole population of the
cities which existed by such manufactories were reduced to begging.
Artisans and mechanics were forced to struggle against hunger, and
many of them, quitting their country, fled to Persia. None but the
chief treasurer was allowed to have anything to do with that branch of
industry, and, while he handed over part of his gains to the Emperor,
he kept the greater part for himself, and thus grew wealthy at the
expense of the unfortunate public.