We may premise, to account for the strange and unintelligible turn of many of the sentences, that the original is written in the corrupt Greek popularly spoken at Constantinople in the sixth century, and is full of allusions to which we possess no key, and words which the lexicographers have not explained, and sentences in which it is not possible to make out any grammatical construction. These difficulties, however, make the passage the more curious; inasmuch as they give reason to suppose that the dialogue was taken down as it occurred, and has not been polished in passing through the hands of historians.
Green. Long may you live, august Justinian. I am aggrieved, thou only good one, I cannot bear it. God knows, I dare not name him, lest it turn to his advantage and to my peril.
Mandator. Who is he? I know not.
Green. He who wrongs me will be found among the shoemakers,[69] thrice august.
Mand. No one wrongs you.
Green. One, and one only wrongs me. Mother of God, may he never lift his head again!
Mand. What man is he? I know not.
Green. You, and you only know, august Justinian, who wrongs me to–day.
Mand. If in truth there be any, I know him not.