Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  [28] And it is also said that the way she made Justinian tractable was not so much by cajoling him as by applying to him the compulsion of the evil spirits.

  [29] οὐ γάρ τις ἦν εὔφρων ἢ δίκαιος ὅδε ἀνὴρ ἢ ἐς τὸ ἀγαθὸν βέβαιος, ὥστε κρείσσων ποτὲ τῆς τοιαύτης ἐπιβουλῆς εἶναι, ἀλλὰ φόνων μὲν καὶ χρημάτων ἔρωτος διαφανῶς ἥσσων, τοῖς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐξαπατῶσι καὶ κολακεύουσιν οὐ χαλεπῶς εἴκων.

  [29] For this man was not so right-minded or just a person or so steadfast in virtue as to be at any time superior to attempts upon him of the kind just mentioned, but, on the contrary, while conspicuously susceptible to the appeal of bloodshed and money, yet he found it easy enough to yield to those who tried to cozen and flatter him.

  [30] ἔν τε πράξεσι ταῖς μάλιστά οἱ ἐσπουδασμέναις μετεβάλλετό τε οὐδενὶ λόγῳ καὶ κονιορτῷ ἐνδελεχέστατα ἐμφερὴς ἐγεγόνει.

  [30] But even in those matters in which he took particular interest he used to reverse his position for no real reason and he had become absolutely like a cloud of dust in instability.

  [31] ταῦτά τοι οὐδέ τις τῶν αὐτοῦ ξυγγενῶν ἢ ἄλλως γνωρίμων ἐλπίδα τινά ποτε ἀσφαλῆ ἐπ̓ αὐτῷ ἔσχεν, ἀλλὰ μεταναστάσεις αὐτῷ ἐς ἀεὶ τῆς ἐς τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα ἐγίνοντο γνώμης.

  [31] For this reason none of his relatives, and none of his acquaintances in general, ever based any confident hope on him, but, on the contrary, he had become subject to constant shiftings of his opinion as regards what he was to do.

  [32] οὕτω τε καὶ τοῖς φαρμακεῦσιν, ὅπερ ἐρρήθη, εὐέφοδος ὢν καὶ τῇ Θεοδώρᾳ πόνῳ οὐδενὶ ὑποχείριος ἐγεγόνει, καὶ ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ μάλιστα ἡ βασιλὶς ἅτε σπουδαῖον τὰ τοιαῦτα τὸν Πέτρον ὄντα ὑπερηγάπα.

  [32] Thus, being easily accessible to the sorcerers, as has been said, he very readily became tractable in the hands of Theodora also; and chiefly for this reason the Empress loved Peter exceedingly as being an expert in such matters.

  [33] ἀρχῆς μὲν οὖν ἧς τὰ πρότερα εἶχε βασιλεὺς αὐτὸν παρέλυσε μόλις, Θεοδώρας δὲ ἐγκειμένης οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἄρχοντα τῶν θησαυρῶν αὐτὸν κατεστήσατο, Ἰωάννην παραλύσας ταύτης δὴ τῆς τιμῆς, ὅσπερ αὐτὴν παρειληφὼς μησί που ὀλίγοις πρότερον ἔτυχεν.

  [33] So the Emperor removed him only with difficulty from the office which he previously held, but at the insistence of Theodora he not long afterwards appointed him Master of the Treasuries, dismissing from this office John, who chanced to have assumed it only a few months earlier.

  [34] ἦν δὲ οὗτος ἀνὴρ γένος μὲν Παλαιστῖνος, πρᾷος δὲ καὶ ἀγαθὸς ἄγαν, καὶ οὔτε πορίζεσθαι χρημάτων ἀδίκων πόρους εἰδὼς, οὔτε τῳ λυμηνάμενος πώποτε τῶν πάντων ἀνθρώπων.

  [34] Now this man was a native of Palestine, and a very gentle and good person, who neither was skilled in opening ways to wrongful gain nor ever had maltreated any man in the world.

  [35] ἀμέλει καὶ διαφερόντως ἠγάπων αὐτὸν ὁ λεὼς ἅπας. διά τοι τοῦτο Ἰουστινιανόν τε καὶ τὴν ὁμόζυγα οὐδαμῆ ἤρεσκεν, οἵπερ ἐπειδὴ τῶν σφίσιν ὑπουργούντων καλόν τε καὶ ἀγαθὸν παρὰ δόξαν τινὰ ἴδοιεν, ἰλιγγιῶντες καὶ δυσφορούμενοι ἐς τὰ μάλιστα πάσῃ μηχανῇ αὐτὸν ὅτι τάχιστα διωθεῖσθαι ἐν σπουδῇ ἐποιοῦντο.

  [35] In fact, the whole populace loved him with extraordinary devotion. And just for this reason he did not satisfy Justinian and his spouse at all, for as soon as they unexpectedly discovered among their subordinates any man of high character, losing their heads and being vexed to the utmost, they eagerly sought by any and every means to push him out of the way at the earliest possible moment.

  [36] Οὕτω γοῦν καὶ τοῦτον τὸν Ἰωάννην ὁ Πέτρος ἐκδεξάμενος θησαυρῶν τε τῶν βασιλικῶν προὔστη καὶ ξυμφορῶν αὖθις μεγάλων αἰτιώτατος ἅπασι γέγονεν.

  [36] It was in this way, at any rate, that Peter succeeded this John and took charge of the imperial treasuries, and he once more became the chief cause of great calamities for all.

  [37] ἀποτεμνόμενος γὰρ τῶν χρημάτων τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος, ἅπερ ἐν παραψυχῆς λόγῳ πολλοῖς χορηγεῖσθαι ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος πρὸς βασιλέως ἐκ παλαιοῦ διατέτακται, αὐτὸς μὲν τοῖς δημοσίοις οὐ δέον ἐπλούτει καὶ μοῖραν ἐνθένδε βασιλεῖ ἀνέφερεν.

  [37] For he cut off the greater part of the payment which it had been ordained from of old should be given by the Emperor each year to many in the guise of a “consolation,” and he himself, meanwhile, by improper means, grew rich on the public money and kept handing over a portion of it to the Emperor.

  [38] οἱ δὲ τὰ χρήματα περιῃρημένοι ἐν πένθει μεγάλῳ περιεκάθηντο, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ χρυσοῦν νόμισμα οὐχ ᾗπερ εἰώθει ἐκφέρειν ἠξίου, ἀλλ̓ ἔλασσον αὐτὸ καταστησάμενος, πρᾶγμα οὐδεπώποτε γεγονὸς πρότερον.

  [38] And those who had been stripped of their money sat about in great sorrow, since he saw fit also to issue the gold coinage, not at its usual value, but reducing its value materially, a thing which had never been done before.

  [39] Τὰ μὲν ἀμφὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσι βασιλεῖ ταύτῃ πη εἶχεν. ὅπως δὲ τοὺς τὰ χωρία κεκτημένους πανταχῆ διέφθειρεν ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι.

  [39] Such were the dealings of the Emperor in the matter of the magistrates. And I shall next proceed to tell how, in each division of the Empire, he ruined those who owned the lands.

  [40] ἀπέχρη μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν τῶν ἐς τὰς πόλεις ἁπάσας στελλομένων ἀρχόντων ἐπιμνησθεῖσιν οὐ πολλῷ πρότερον καὶ τούτων δὴ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σημῆναι τὰ πάθη. πρώτους γὰρ οἱ ἄρχοντες οὗτοι τοὺς τῶν χωρίων κυρίους βιαζόμενοι ἐληΐζοντο, καὶ ὣς δὲ τἄλλα εἰρήσεται πάντα.

  [40] Now it was sufficient for our purpose, in mentioning a short time ago the magistrates sent out to all the cities, to note also the sufferings of the common people. For the owners of land were the first whom these magistrates oppressed and plundered; but even so all the remainder of the story shall be told.

  XXIII

  Πρῶτον μὲν εἰθισμένον ὂν ἐκ παλαιοῦ ἕκαστον τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν ἔχοντα οὐχ ἅπαξ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλάκις τοῖς τῶν δημοσίων ὀφλημάτων λειψάνοις τοὺς κατηκόους δωρεῖσθαι πάντας, τοῦ μήτε τοὺς ἀπορουμένους τε καὶ ὅθεν ἂν ἐκτίνοιεν τὰ λείψανα ταῦτα οὐδαμῆ ἔχοντας διηνεκὲς ἀποπνίγεσθαι μήτε τοῖς φορολόγοις σκήψεις παρέχεσθαι, συκ�
�φαντεῖν ἐγχειροῦσι τῶν τοῦ φόρου ὑποτελῶν τοὺς οὐδὲν ὀφείλοντας, οὗτος ἐς δύο καὶ τριάκοντα ἐτῶν χρόνον οὐδὲν τοιοῦτο ἐς τοὺς κατηκόους εἰργάσατο.

  First of all, though it had been customary from ancient times that each successive Emperor should make, not once, but many times, a donation to all their subjects of the arrears of their debts to the Treasury, in order, on the one hand, to prevent the destitute and those who had no means of paying these arrears from being strangled regularly, and, on the other hand, to avoid providing the tax-gatherers with pretexts in case they should try to denounce those who, though subject to the tax, owed nothing in arrears, this man, for a period of thirty-two years, has done nothing of the kind for his subjects.

  [2] καὶ ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ τοῖς μὲν ἀπορουμένοις ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἀποδρᾶναί τε καὶ μηδενὶ ἔτι ἐπανιέναι.

  [2] And for this reason it was necessary for the destitute to go away and in no case to return again.

  [3] καὶ οἱ συκοφάνται τοὺς ἐπιεικεστέρους ἀπέκναιον κατηγορίαν ἐπανασείοντες ἅτε τὸ τέλος ἐνδεεστέρως ἐκ παλαιοῦ καταβάλλοντας τῆς ἐγκειμένης τῷ χωρίῳ φορᾶς.

  [3] And the denouncers kept harassing the more respectable farmers by holding over them the threat of an accusation, alleging that they had for a long time been paying their tax at a lower rate than that imposed upon their district.

  [4] οὐ γὰρ ὅσον οἱ ταλαίπωροι τὴν καινὴν τοῦ φόρου ἀπαγωγὴν ἐδεδίεσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ χρόνων τοσούτων τὸ πλῆθος οὐδὲν προσῆκον βαρύνεσθαι φόροις.

  [4] For the poor wretches had to fear not only the new payment of the tax, but also the possibility that they might be weighed down by the burden of taxes for so great a number of years for which they owed nothing.

  [5] πολλοὶ γοῦν ἀμέλει τὰ σφέτερα αὐτῶν τοῖς συκοφάνταις ἢ τῷ δημοσίῳ προέμενοι ἀπηλλάσσοντο.

  [5] In any case, many men actually handed over their property either to the blackmailers or to the Treasury and went their ways.

  [6] ἔπειτα δὲ Μήδων μὲν καὶ Σαρακηνῶν τῆς Ἀσίας γῆν τὴν πολλὴν, τῶν δὲ δὴ Οὔννων καὶ Σκλαβηνῶν καὶ Ἀντῶν ξύμπασαν Εὐρώπην ληϊσαμένων, καὶ τῶν πόλεων τὰς μὲν καθελόντων ἐς ἔδαφος, τὰς δὲ ἀργυρολογησάντων ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς μάλιστα, τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους ἐξανδραποδισάντων ξὺν χρήμασι πᾶσιν, ἔρημόν τε τῶν οἰκητόρων καταστησαμένων χώραν ἑκάστην ταῖς καθ̓ ἡμέραν ἐπιδρομαῖς, φόρον μὲν οὐδενὶ τῶν ἁπάντων ἀφῆκε, πλήν γε δὴ ὅσον ἐνιαυτοῦ ταῖς ἁλούσαις τῶν πόλεων μόνον.

  [6] Furthermore, though the Medes and Saracens had plundered the greater part of the land of Asia, and the Huns and Sclaveni and Antae the whole of Europe, and some of the cities had been levelled to the ground, and others had been stripped of their wealth in very thorough fashion through levied contributions, and though they had enslaved the population with all their property, making each region destitute of inhabitants by their daily inroads, yet he remitted the tax to no man, with the single exception that captured cities had one year’s exemption only.

  [7] καίτοι εἰ καθάπερ Ἀναστάσιος βασιλεὺς ἑπτάετες ταῖς ἁλούσαις τὰ τέλη ἐπιχωρεῖν ἔγνω, οἶμαι δ̓ ἂν οὐδ̓ ὣς αὐτὸν πεποιῆσθαι τὰ δέοντα, ἐπεὶ Καβάδης μὲν ταῖς οἰκοδομίαις ὡς ἥκιστα λυμηνάμενος ἀπιὼν ᾤχετο, Χοσρόης δὲ ἅπαντα πυρπολήσας ἐς ἔδαφος καθεῖλε, μείζω τε προσετρίψατο τοῖς περιπεπτωκόσι τὰ πάθη.

  [7] And yet if he had seen fit, as did the Emperor Anastasius, to remit to captured cities all their taxes for seven years, I think that even thus he would not have been doing all he should have in view of the fact that, although Cabades had gone his way without doing the least damage to the buildings, yet Chosroes had not only fired every structure and razed it to the ground, but had also inflicted greater sufferings upon his victims.

  [8] καὶ τούτοις μὲν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οἷσπερ τὸ γελοιῶδες τοῦτο τοῦ φόρου ἀφῆκε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι, πολλάκις μὲν δεξαμένοις τὸν Μήδων στρατὸν, διηνεκὲς δὲ Οὔννων τε καὶ βαρβάρων Σαρακηνῶν γῆν τὴν ἑῴαν ληϊσαμένων, οὐδὲν δὲ ἧσσον καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης βαρβάρων ταῦτα ἐργαζομένων ἀεὶ καὶ καθ̓ ἑκάστην τοὺς ἐκείνῃ Ῥωμαίους, βασιλεὺς οὗτος χαλεπώτερος εὐθὺς γέγονε βαρβάρων ἁπάντων.

  [8] And now to these men to whom he remitted this ridiculously small portion of the tribute, as to all the others likewise — men who had often supported the attacks of the Median army, and though Huns and Saracens had continuously ravaged the lands of the East, and though not less terribly the barbarians in Europe were also wreaking such destruction every day and unceasingly — to these men, I say, this Emperor shewed himself from the first more savage than all the barbarians together.

  [9] συνωναῖς τε γὰρ καὶ ταῖς καλουμέναις ἐπιβολαῖς τε καὶ διαγραφαῖς οἱ τῶν χωρίων κύριοι τῶν πολεμίων ἀνακεχωρηκότων αὐτίκα μάλα ἡλίσκοντο.

  [9] For through “buying on requisition” and what are called “imposts” and “pro-rated assessments,” the owners of the land were immediately, once the enemy had withdrawn, reduced to ruin.

  [10] ὅ τι δὲ τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστί τε καὶ βούλεται ταῦτα, ἐγὼ δηλώσω.

  [10] Now what these terms are and what they mean I shall proceed to explain.

  [11] Τοὺς τὰ χωρία κεκτημένους ἀναγκάζουσι τὸν Ῥωμαίων ἐκτρέφειν στρατὸν κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς κειμένης ἑκάστῳ φορᾶς, τιμημάτων καταβαλλομένων οὐχ ᾗπερ ἐφίησιν ὁ παρὼν τῇ χρείᾳ καιρὸς, ἀλλ̓ ᾗπερ ἔξεστι καὶ διώρισται, οὐ διερευνώμενοι δὲ, εἴπερ αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐπιτήδεια ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ξυμβαίνει.

  [11] The owners of property are compelled to provision the Roman army in proportion to the tax levied upon each owner, the deliveries being made, not where the season of the year at which the requisition is to be filled permits, but where the officials find it possible and have determined, and in making these requisitions no enquiry is made to see whether the farmers happen to have the required provisions on their land.

  [12] περιέστηκέ τε τοὺς δειλαίους τούτους ἀνάγκη τὰ μὲν ἐπιτήδεια στρατιώταις τε καὶ ἵπποις ἐσκομίζεσθαι, πάντα ὠνουμένους αὐτὰ τιμημάτων πολλῶν ἐς ἄγαν ἀξιωτέρων καὶ ταῦτα ἐκ χώρας, ἂν οὕτω τύχοι, μακράν που οὔσης καὶ ταῦτα ἐς τὸ χωρίον ἀποκομίζειν, οὗ δὴ τὸ στρατόπεδον ξυμβαίνει εἶναι, μετρεῖν τε τοῖς τῶν στρατιωτῶν χορηγοῖς, οὐ καθάπερ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις νόμος,r />
  [12] Thus it comes about that these wretched men are compelled to import provisions for both soldiers and horses, buying them all at very much higher prices than they are to receive, and that, too, in a market which, if it so happens, may be at a great distance from their farms, and then to haul back these provisions to the place where the army chances to be, and they must measure out these supplies to the Quartermasters of the army, not in the way accepted by all the world, but just as the Quartermasters wish.

  [13] ἀλλ̓ ᾗπερ ἐκείνοις ἂν βουλομένοις εἴη. καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ πρᾶγμα ὅπερ συνωνὴ καλεῖται, ἐξ οὗ δὴ ἅπασιν ἐκνενευρίσθαι τοῖς τῶν χωρίων κυρίοις ξυμβαίνει.

  [13] And this is the thing which is called “buying on requisition,” and the result of it has been that all the owners of farms have been bled to death.

  [14] φόρον γὰρ ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ τὸν ἐπέτειον οὐχ ἥσσονα ἢ δεκαπλασίονα ἐγκατατιθέναι σφίσιν ἐπάναγκες, οἷς γε οὐ μόνον, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, τῷ στρατῷ χορηγεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σῖτον ἐς Βυζάντιον πολλάκις διακομίζειν ταῦτα πεπονθόσι ξυνέπεσεν, ἐπεὶ οὐχ ὁ Βαρσύμης καλούμενος μόνος τὸ τοιοῦτο ἄγος ἐξαμαρτάνειν τετόλμηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρότερον μὲν ὁ Καππαδόκης, ὕστερον δὲ οἱ μετὰ τὸν Βαρσύμην τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς παραλαβόντες ἀξίωμα.

  [14] For by this process they are compelled to pay their annual tax not less than tenfold, seeing that it has often fallen to their lot, not only to furnish supplies directly to the army, as stated, but also, on top of what they have suffered that way, to transport grain to Byzantium; for not alone Barsymes, as he was called, has dared to perpetrate this outrage, but even before him the Cappadocian, and later on those who succeeded Barsymes in the dignity of this office.