[366] Ibid. The text of the decree has not come down to us, but Basilius was the last Consul, and subsequently official documents are dated as "An. I, II, etc., post Basil." Yet only five years before Justinian drew up elaborate rules for the observance of the consular season: Nov. cv. Beginning from Jan. 1, he apportioned to each day of the week its quantum of processions with scattered largess, horse races, hunts with dogs in the amphitheatre, boxing and wrestling, man and beast fights, and theatrical displays in which the loose feminine element predominated.
[367] Procopius, Anecd., 25. He enacted that only 180 pence (follis, about 5-4d.) should now be given for the solidus, instead of 210, as formerly. See p. 122.
[368] Procopius, Anecd., 19-22. A particular impost called the "aerikon" (windfall) worked by the Praetorian Praefect, produced 3,000 pounds of gold (£120,000) annually. It seems to have been an income tax levied on governmental employees. Ibid., 21. The epibole (waste land tax; see p. 151; Cod. Theod., XIII, xi, 12; Cod., XI, lviii; Nov. clxv, etc.) was pushed to the most oppressive extreme in this reign. Ibid., 23. One special instance of the subterfuges resorted to for confiscating private property may be cited. A lady of Ascalon, married, inherited considerable wealth from her father, and subsequently as a widow, by the death of her only child, became heiress of her husband's property. Forthwith Justinian seized on the whole estate, declaring it iniquitous that the old lady, as she had now become, should be enriched by both father and husband. He, however, granted her a pension of one solidus a day, explaining that he did so "for the sake of piety, and because it is my custom to act in a holy and pious manner." Ibid., 29. Other examples in same chapter.
[369] Speaking of Egypt, he remarks that "matters have been so confounded down there that what is enacted in the province cannot be known here [CP.]"; Edict xiii, praef.
[370] In 548 he re-established the Vicar of Pontus on account of the ineradicable disorders. His jurisdiction included all the northern region of Asia Minor from the coast opposite CP. to the borders of Armenia. His task is, as usual, to restrain every sort of outrage on women and property, the culprits being men of all ranks, "priests, magistrates, nobles, and plebeians."—Edict viii. Command of the army is given him for the purpose. In 545, and even twenty years later, the injunction as to the fifty days' delay is still being launched at the Rectors; Nov. cxxviii, 23; clxi, 1. In 556 an all-round diatribe denounces the time-honoured malpractices of local rulers, the bishops even being included in the prohibitions; Nov. cxxxiv. Imperial decrees were generally accompanied by a threat that a fine of 10 pounds of gold (£400) and dismissal would be inflicted on the official to whom they were addressed, if he neglected to publish and give them full force; Nov. x, etc.
[371] Procopius, Anecd., 21.
[372] That Justinian and his consort were held in general detestation during the greater part of their reign by a majority of their subjects, who vented "curses, not loud, but deep" against them, appears to be indicated clearly by the expressions of Procopius. "Wherefore I, and most of my acquaintances, did not consider them to be human beings, but pernicious demons, such as the poets call vampires," etc.; Anecd., 12. "His mother is said to have told her friends that he was not the son of Sabbatius, nor of any man, but that before her pregnancy a species of demon came to her"; Ibid. "That he was not a man, but a demon in human form, any one could prove by the magnitude of the ills which he brought on the human race"; Ibid., 18. Jn. Lydus, however, always represents Justinian as being "good and kind," "long-suffering," etc., and as quite ignorant of the doings of John, who bullied his subordinates so that none of them would have dared to breathe a word against him; De Magistr., iii, 57, 69, etc. Lydus was a clerk in the civil service, who rose to be the head of a department, but he complains that he never received his pay; Ibid., 66, 67, etc.
[373] Procopius, Anecd., 23. He made no concessions whatever, according to our author, writing in 550. His first, and apparently his only, remission of arrears was, in fact, not made till 553; Nov. cxlvii. Malala (p. 437) records that in 528 he abolished some tax, a subsidy to the Gothic foederati. The defaulting tax-payer was put on a level with the homicide, and denied the right of sanctuary in a church; Nov. xvii, 7. To the Rectors he says, "You must see that exaction of the public tributes be decently effected, even in the Temples ... the ecclesiastics will aid you," etc.
[374] His fullest style is: "Imperator Caesar Flavius Justinianus, Alemannicus, Gothicus, Francicus, Germanicus, Lazicus, Alanicus, Vandalicus, Africanus, pius, felix, gloriosus, victor ac triumphator, nunquam non colendus Augustus"; Nov. xliii; cf. Chron. Paschal., an. 552, etc. If he could have added "Persicus" in the beginning of his reign, it would have been worth all the rest.