2. The foregoing reconstruction was neither difficult to conceive nor inapplicable in practice, but when Justinian determined to quell the greed for illicit gains among his subordinates he struck at the most vital part of Byzantine officialism. With no halting judgement he began by directing the lethal weapon against his own breast, and decreed that in future no candidate should be permitted to secure an appointment as Rector by purchasing the interest of any of his great officers of state or their dependents.[321] Henceforward the Rector, having won his commission simply by proving his fitness for office, would proceed to his government unhampered by debt, and no longer compelled to despoil the tributaries in order to liquidate his heavy obligations. With paternal benignancy he would mete out strict justice, and administer his charge with "pure hands,"[322] eschewing sordid gains, and content with the stipend allotted to him by the state.[323] He would show no mercy to homicides, adulterers, or abductors of virgins; would sternly suppress brigandage, and never quail before the most potent and wealthy delinquent in his province.[324] Titles affixed to a neighbour's land, when found, were forthwith to be detracted and broken over the head of the offender, whether agent or principal.[325] Before his departure from the capital he was obliged to attest his allegiance to the Emperor and Empress by a solemn oath, swearing at the same time that he had not obtained his post by bribery, and that his conduct should be in every way exemplary towards the subjects committed to his care.[326] On arriving at his seat of government he was enjoined to convene the clergy and laity, and read to them the Imperial ordinances under which he had accepted office, a copy of the same to be posted also in every district under his jurisdiction.[327]
Justinian did not, however, confine himself to exhortation and verbal obligations to ensure the observance of his precepts, but he also had recourse to material precautions against the Rector's deviating from the path of rectitude. In the first place local supervision of his actions was provided for in three different quarters. Primarily the bishops were authorized to receive complaints against the Rector, and even to test their validity by sitting on the bench with him to hear causes in which his ruling had been impugned.[328] A mandate was also addressed to the Defenders of the Cities, whose office had fallen into disrepute, reviving and extending their powers and animating their energies.[329] The Rector was deprived of the right of dismissing them from their posts, and they were directed to report him at headquarters if he presumed to interfere with their functions.[330] Lastly the Emperor gave full force to the old injunction of Zeno that a retiring governor should remain for fifty days within his province, exposing himself to the accusations of all who should deem themselves aggrieved by his improbity.[331]
Nor did Justinian dispense with a system of rewards and punishments to encourage the upright, or to deter the faithless Rector. Having won golden opinions from his official superiors, the former should expect to retain his position for a longer period and subsequently to be promoted to a higher charge with authority over a greater population.[332] On the other hand, confiscation and exile, stripes and torture, were to be inflicted on the transgressor as the penalty of his misdeeds.[333]
Still further to safeguard the welfare of his subjects the Emperor enacted comprehensive measures to facilitate the administration of justice. In the provinces the legal status of the Defenders of the Cities was raised, and the inhabitants were directed to bring all minor cases before them instead of crowding to the Rector's court from the outlying districts.[334] At the same time courts of appeal were multiplied by conferring on the Spectabiles intermediate jurisdiction between the Rectors of lesser rank, the Clarissimi, and the illustrious functionaries of the capital.[335] Thus the overwhelming influx of the provincials into the Imperial city, to lay their grievances before the supreme courts, was materially diminished. Similarly at Constantinople the activity of the puisne judges was much increased, and they were required to sit in the Royal Basilica "morning, noon, and evening" to determine lawsuits of lesser import.[336] A permanent Quaesitor was also appointed to deal specially with the throng of immigrants, to ascertain the propriety of their appeals and direct them to the proper courts; or, should it appear that they had come on a futile errand, to relegate them back to their provinces with letters commending them to the notice of the Rector.[337]
With a view to the repression of crime and the moral depuration of the capital Justinian also took some active measures, in which Theodora co-operated with him as far as the feminine element was concerned. Under the title of "Praetor of the People" the office of Praefect of the Watch, formerly an important post in the Roman municipality, was restored, and a posse of soldiers and firemen was placed at his disposition.[338] To this praetor, who might be a noble of illustrious rank, was assigned the duty of organizing a patrol of the streets day and night for the protection of life and property. At this time the traffic in prostitution had grown to enormous dimensions, and the country was overrun by panders who bought young maidens from poor parents for a small sum in order to devote them to public debauchery. Girls in their tenth year and upwards were enticed by promises of fine clothes and ornaments to become inmates of proprietary brothels, and were even paraded about the streets as decoys for the dissolute. The newly appointed praetors now received a mandate from the Emperor to suppress these vile habitations and to drive those who maintained them from the city.[339] The Empress herself had been for some time engaged in the work of reclaiming these unfortunates, whom she redeemed from their owners by paying a stipulated price in each case.[340] A disused palace on the Bosphorus was converted into a Magdalen asylum, which she called "the Penitentiary"; and here a considerable number of former courtesans were immured in the hope of their moral reformation. Some scandal, however, was occasioned by the conduct of several of those rescued, who, driven to despair by the monotony of their new life, preferred to throw themselves from the windows at night into the water to enduring the unaccustomed restraint; but we may assume the comparative rarity of this untoward result.[341] Justinian also pronounced very sternly against paederasty, and even made a public example of certain bishops who were convicted of that offence.[342] He further forbade the making of eunuchs within the Empire, threatening confiscation, exile, and retaliative castration against those who infringed his prohibition.[343] Consistently he ordained that eunuchs of servile condition should for the reason alone of their defect become free men.[344]
3. In the midst of his most earnest efforts at reform Justinian never failed to impress on all concerned that with himself and his Imperial partner the rights of the crown and the maintenance of the revenue were of paramount importance.[345] At the head of their codicils the Rectors were admonished to make it their study above all things to expedite the fiscal exactions; whilst the tributaries were warned that no matter how vehemently their governor had enforced payment of the imposts, no cause of action was granted to them against him.[346] On the contrary, they were to conduct him with all deference from the province at the end of his term, and, should they presume to molest him during his fifty days of postponed departure on that account, they would be subjected to penalties of exceptional severity.[347] The Emperor deplores the diminution of Roman territory which has resulted from the inactivity of former rulers, and calls attention to his own energy and prowess by which the repair of their errors has been begun.[348] Military operations, however, are expensive, and hostile incursions can only be repelled if people respond freely to the demands of the tax collectors.[349] Justinian asserts that he disdains to imitate the example of his predecessors who sold the offices of the state, thus depriving themselves of the right to expostulate with unjust administrators who embezzled the national funds.[350] But a new era has now dawned, government with pure hands is assured for the future, and liability will be limited strictly to the legitimate imposts. Therefore let all alike sing hymns of praise to God and the Saviour for the passing of these new laws.[351]
Justinian, notwithstanding his professions, was mainly influenced by the hope of pecuniary gain when he essayed to reverse the administrative system of his predecessors. He calculated that the rooted abuses which they had tolerated for centuries were a cause that only one third, possibly, indeed, not more than a fourth, of the taxes collected found their way to the Imperial treasury.[352] Hence his ministry of the interior soon resolved itself into a mere organization for the invention of legislation which would conduce to the raising of money.[353] The devices which suggested themselves from time to time as financial expedients were multifarious and of the most unrelated character. Some of these have been already alluded to,[354] but a few others which were productive of more signal changes require particular notice. Roman Armenia was joined to the less important region of that name on the west of the Euphrates and reduced to the level of an ordinary province, with a Proconsul for its principal Rector.[355] Consequently taxes were imposed, and the inhabitants found themselves racked for payments which they had previously escaped.[356] In the time of Justin, Justinian added four troops to the Scholars of the Palace, and received from each new member a premium for his position in the force. Soon after his accession he disbanded them as a measure of retrenchment, but retained the purchase money. Subsequently he made a practice of ordering these carpet soldiers for active service, with the understanding that they would buy themselves off the dreaded prospect by surrendering a quota of their pay.[357] Every opportunity was taken to consolidate trade monopolies to the advantage of the government;[358] and this was especially the case with respect to silk. Justinian pretended to be indignant when a rise of price was operated by the deficient supply, and decreed that the maximum retail cost should be eight solidi (£4 10s.) the pound.[359] Confiscation was the penalty for contravening this regulation, but the traffic was still carried on in secret. Here Theodora found an opening for the exercise of her talents, and through private channels succeeded in discovering the merchants who were implicated. Thereupon a fine of 100 lb. of gold (£4,000) was imposed on each of them.[360] Soon the factories at Tyre and Berytus, the headquarters of the commerce, began to languish, the operatives were thrown out of work, and ultimately the Praetorian Praefect possessed himself of the whole manufacture. Exorbitant prices were then fixed which yielded an immense profit to the Imperial exchequer, but numberless persons were ruined during the process of transfer.[361] Like results obtained in relation to the corn supply of Egypt through manœuvres at Alexandria, by which the Praefect of the City was constituted the sole purveyor of that commodity. A scarceness and dearness of bread was the natural consequence of this innovation.[362] Another fiscal move, far-reaching in its effects, was the diversion of the separate revenues of the municipalities[363] into the hands of the Emperor. The local curiae being no longer permitted to deal with them, public works were neglected and the inhabitants ceased to be entertained by the popular spectacles.[364] A blight seemed to fall on the Empire, says the contemporary historian, and people had no resource but the discussion of present calamities and the expression of their fears for the future.[365] Related to this policy was the formal abolition of the Consulship with its attendant train of festivities which enlivened the opening of each year. During the space of a decade the office had only been filled in a desultory manner, but the last Consul was actually seen in 541, and soon afterwards that link between the Byzantines and the glories of the old Republic was severed by a definite Act.[366] To tamper with the currency has always been an inviting procedure with needy princes, and Justinian did not resist having recourse to this artifice. By giving a fictitious value to copper he managed to rake in the gold coinage at about five-sixths of its actual worth.[367] Such are the chief methods by which in this reign the revenue was inflated beyond its normal proportions, and, to complete the list, reference may be made to ill-advised economies effected by the suppression of pay and pensions usually granted by a state and to forfeitures of private property constantly decreed on slight pretexts.[368]
If Justinian's studied scheme of reform could have been applied successfully in practice, it is possible that fiscal oppression might have been banished from the Empire. But the Autocrator at Constantinople was scarcely more than a suzerain in the provinces, and his fiat was but slightly regarded by those who occupied any position of power in districts remote from the capital.[369] Doubtless his technical enactments as to the rank and territorial jurisdiction of diverse Rectors were received as indisputable, but at the same time they marked the limits of his power to work a change in methods of local rule which had been practised for centuries. Once invested with authority, the provincial governor departed to tread in the footsteps of his predecessors, while the same futile prohibitions continued to issue periodically from the mouth of the Emperor, secluded in his distant Court.[370] Before the lapse of a twelvemonth Justinian resigned himself to ignoring his own self-denying ordinance, and a candidate for office was noted only in relation to his ability to pay at the moment, and the magnitude of his promises for the future.[371] His repeated denunciations of the venality of his vicegerents represented no more than his formal recognition of the lamentations which continually reached his tribunal, or his exasperation at a prospective loss of revenue from the flagrant excesses of some reckless extortioner.[372] He was also extremely parsimonious in remitting arrears of taxation, even in districts which had suffered from hostile invasions or other calamities. Thus numbers of the small landowners were allowed to languish under the apprehension that at any moment their whole property might be seized in order to wipe out their liabilities.[373]
A river of wealth flowed through the Byzantine exchequer at the bidding of the Emperor. The sources were exhausted, and the reservoir was discharged under the influence of the same will. The people, who formed the well-head, suffered untold miseries in contributing under compulsion to the supply, but they possessed no control over the ultimate distribution of the stream. These activities have now been sufficiently considered on the one side; it remains for us to turn our attention to the other. During the twenty years which followed the Nika rebellion the reign of Justinian was distinguished by a series of magnificent achievements both at home and abroad; great works were accomplished within the Empire; beyond its borders aggressive wars were waged and a moiety of the Western Empire was restored to the dominion of the East. But the background of this brilliant scene was always of the same gloomy tint, such as has been described in the present chapter, and these splendid successes were obtained at the cost, but not to the advantage of the Greek nation in general. While Justinian went on adding magniloquent epithets to his name indicative of conquest and triumph over alien races in the West,[374] his immediate subjects continued to be afflicted by the harshness and rapacity of the administration, as well as by the tyranny of the local aristocracy. Concomitantly the barbarians in Europe and the Persians in Asia sapped the vitals of the Empire and impoverished or enslaved its inhabitants. Victory and acquisition abroad by the aid of mercenary troops were nullified by defeat and exhaustion at home; and the extended Empire which Justinian handed down to his successors was inferior in political vigour and sociological prosperity to the smaller dominions which he had inherited from Anastasius.
[185] Nov. viii, 8, 10; xvii, 1; xxx, 11, etc.