.
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.
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