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men of every character were flocking together to him from all the earth into By19.15 zantium. And he, with no hesitation, but overjoyed at this business, and thinking it a piece of good luck to drain the wealth of the Romans and throw it away on barbarian men or some sea-surf, would always on each day send each one of them away with lavish sums of money. 19.16 And in this way all the barbarians have become entirely masters of the wealth of the Romans, either having received money from the emperor, or by plundering the Roman empire, or by selling back captives, or by selling truces, and the vision of the dream, which I just mentioned, happened to be interpreted in this way for the one who saw it. 19.17 And he was able, however, to contrive other methods for the plundering of his subjects, which will be told right now as far as I am able, through which he was able to plunder the property of all, not all at once, but little by little. 20.1 First, he generally appointed the prefect of the city in Byzantium, who was to assign an annual revenue from this to those who had the shops and to put them in a position of power to sell their wares however they wished. 20.2 And it came about for the people here to buy their provisions while paying three times the price, and having no one to whom they might appeal on account of this. 20.3 And great was the harm that arose from this business. For since a part of this revenue went to the treasury, the magistracy in charge of the matter wished to grow rich from it. 20.4 And from this, both the assistants of the magistracy, having undertaken this shameful service, and those who had the shops, having seized the power to break the law, did irreparable deeds to those who needed to buy at that time, not only collecting, as has been said, prices many times multiplied, but also contriving certain incredible frauds in their wares. 20.5 Then, having established many so-called monopolies and having sold off the welfare of his subjects to those who thought it worthy to contract for this curse, he himself, having received in exchange a price for this business, went off, and to those who had made a contract with him he granted to manage the business as they wished. 20.6 This was done openly as a crime in all the other magistracies as well. For since the emperor always received some small share of the stolen goods, both the magistrates for their part and those in charge of each matter more fearlessly plundered those who fell into their hands. 20.7 And as if the magistracies established of old were not sufficient for him for this purpose, he contrived two others for the state, although previously the magistracy in charge of the people prosecuted all crimes. 20.8 But so that the informers might always be more numerous and that the bodies of men who had done no wrong might be tortured much more quickly, he decided to invent these magistracies. 20.9 And one of them he set over the thieves, ostensibly, in theory, giving it the name Praetor of the Demes; and by the other he ordered pederasts to be punished forever, and those having unlawful intercourse with women, and if anyone practiced religion incorrectly, 20.10 giving this one the name Quaestor. The Praetor, therefore, if he found any things among the stolen goods worthy of much account, he saw fit to bring these to the emperor, saying that 20.11 the owners of these things were nowhere to be found. and in this way the emperor was able to always obtain the most valuable property. And the so-called Quaestor, by destroying the offenders, brought to the emperor whatever he wished, and he himself grew no less rich on the property of others by no law. 20.12 For the assistants of these magistracies neither brought forward accusers nor produced witnesses of the deeds, but continuously all this time, both without accusation and without scrutiny, encountering people in the most secret way, they both killed them and took away their property. 20.13 But later this murderer instructed these and the magistracy in charge of the people to take charge of all crimes alike, telling them to compete with one another as to which of them would be able 20.14 to ruin more people and more quickly. and one of them himself

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ἀνδρὸς ἦθος ἐπ' αὐτὸν δὴ ἐκ πάσης γῆς ξυνέρρεον ἐς Βυ19.15 ζάντιον. καὶ ὃς οὐδεμιᾷ ὀκνήσει, ἀλλ' ὑπερηδόμενός τε τῷ ἔργῳ τούτῳ, καί τι καὶ ἕρμαιον εἶναι οἰόμενος τὸν μὲνῬωμαίων ἐξαντλεῖν πλοῦτον, βαρβάροις δὲ ἀνθρώποις ἢ ῥοθίοις τισὶ θαλασσίοις προΐεσθαι, ἀεὶ καθ' ἑκάστην αὐτῶν ἕκαστον ξὺν ἁδροῖς χρήμασιν 19.16 ἀπεπέμπετο. ταύτῃ τε οἱ βάρβαροι ἅπαντες κύριοι τοῦῬωμαίων παντάπασι γεγένηνται πλούτου, ἢ τὰ χρήματα πρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως κεκομισμένοι ἢ ληϊζόμενοι τὴν τῶνῬωμαίων ἀρχὴν, ἢ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἀποδιδόμενοι, ἢ τὴν ἐκεχειρίαν ἀπεμπολοῦντες, τήν τε τοῦ ὀνείρου ὄψιν, ἧς ἄρτι ἐμνήσθην, ἐς τοῦτο τῷ ἰδόντι 19.17 ἀποκεκρίσθαι τετύχηκε. καὶ ἄλλους μέντοι ἐπιτεχνήσασθαι τῆς τῶν κατηκόων λεηλασίας τρόπους ἴσχυσεν, οἵπερ ἐς ὅσον δυνατὸς ἂν εἴην αὐτίκα μάλα λελέξονται, δι' ὧν οὐκ ἀθρόας, ἀλλὰ κατὰ βραχὺ τὰς πάντων οὐσίας ληΐζεσθαι διαρκῶς ἔσχε. 20.1 Πρῶτα τῷ δήμῳ οἱ ἔπαρχον ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐφίστη, ὃς δὴ ἔμελλε τοῖς τὰ πωλητήρια ἔχουσι πόρου ἐνιαυσίου ἐνθένδε διαλαγχάνων ἐς τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοὺς ἐμβιβάζειν τοῦ τὰ ὤνια ὅπῃ 20.2 βούλοιντο ἀποδίδοσθαι. καὶ περιεστήκει τοῖς τῇδε ἀνθρώποις ὠνεῖσθαι τὰ ἐπιτήδεια, τριπλασίονα μὲν καταβαλλομένοις τιμήματα, ὅτῳ δὲ ἂν διὰ ταῦτα ἐπι20.3 καλοῖεν, οὐδαμῆ ἔχουσι. μέγα τε τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔργου βλάβος ἠγείρετο. μέρος γὰρ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦδε φερομένης τοῦ πόρου πλουτεῖν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἡ τῷ πράγματι 20.4 ἐφεστῶσα ἀρχὴ ἤθελε. τὸ δὲ ἐνθένδε οἵ τε τῆς ἀρχῆς ὑπηρέται τῆς αἰσχρᾶς ταύτης ὑπουργίας ἐπειλημμένοι καὶ οἱ τὰ πωλητήρια ἔχοντες τῆς τοῦ παρανομεῖν ἐξουσίας δραξάμενοι ἀνήκεστα ἔργα τοὺς τότε ὠνεῖσθαι δεομένους εἰργάζοντο, οὐχ ὅσον πολλὰ εἴρηται πολλαπλάσια τὰ τιμήματα κομιζόμενοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ δολώσεις ἐν τοῖς ὠνίοις μηχανώμενοι ἀμυθήτους τινάς. 20.5Ἔπειτα δὲ πολλὰ καταστησάμενος τὰ καλούμενα μονοπώλια τήν τε κατηκόων σωτηρίαν ἀπεμπολήσας τοῖς τὸ ἄγος τοῦτο ἐνεργολαβεῖν ἀξιοῦσιν, αὐτὸς μὲν τίμημα τοῦ ἔργου τούτου ἀντιφορτισάμενος ἀπηλλάσσετο, τοῖς δὲ αὐτῷ ξυμβεβληκόσι παρείχετο τὴν ἐργα20.6 σίαν ᾗ βούλοιντο διοικήσασθαι. ὅπερ ἀπαρακαλύπτως ἡμαρτάνετο κἀν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἁπάσαις ἀρχαῖς. βασιλέως γὰρ μοῖράν τινα οὐ πολλὴν ἀεὶ τῶν φωρίων κομιζομένου αἵ τε ἀρχαὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ πράγματι ἐφεστῶτες ἑκάστῳ ἀδεέστερον τοὺς σφίσι παραπίπτοντας 20.7 ἐληΐζοντο. ὥσπερ δὲ οὐχ ἱκανῶν οἱ ἐς τοῦτο οὐσῶν τῶν πάλαι διατεταγμένων ἀρχῶν, ἑτέρας δύο ἐπὶ τῇ πολιτείᾳ ἐπετεχνήσατο, καίτοι ἅπαντα μετῄει πρότερον 20.8 τὰ ἐγκλήματα ἡ τῷ δήμῳ ἐφεστῶσα ἀρχή. ἀλλ' ὅπως ἀεὶ πλείους τε οἱ συκοφάνται εἶεν καὶ πολλῷ ἔτι θᾶσσον τῶν οὐδὲν ἐπταικότων ἀνθρώπων τὰ σώματα 20.9 αἰκίζοιτο, ταύτας δὴ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐπινοεῖν ἔγνω. καὶ αὐταῖν τὴν ἑτέραν μὲν τοῖς κλέπταις δῆθεν τῷ λόγῳ ἐπέστησεν, ὄνομα ταύτῃ ἐπιθεὶς πραίτωρα δήμων· τῇ δὲ δὴ ἑτέρᾳ τούς τε παιδεραστοῦντας ἐς ἀεὶ τίννυσθαι καὶ γυναιξὶν οὐ νόμιμα μιγνυμένους ἐπήγγελλε, καὶ εἴ τῳ τὰ ἐς τὸ θεῖον οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἤσκηται, 20.10 ὄνομα ταύτῃ ἐπιθεὶς κοιαισίτωρα. ὁ μὲν οὖν πραίτωρ εἴ τινα ἐν τοῖς φωρίοις λόγου πολλοῦ ἄξια εὗρε, ταῦτα δὴ τῷ αὐτοκράτορι ἀποφέρειν ἠξίου, φάσκων 20.11 οὐδαμῆ φαίνεσθαι τοὺς τούτων κυρίους. ταύτῃ τε χρημάτων ἀεὶ τῶν τιμιωτάτων διαλαγχάνειν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἶχεν. ὁ δὲ δὴ κοιαισίτωρ καλούμενος τοὺς παραπεπτωκότας κατεργαζόμενος, ἃ μὲν βούλοιτο, βασιλεῖ ἔφερεν, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἐπλούτει τοῖς ἀλλο20.12 τρίοις οὐδενὶ νόμῳ. οἱ γὰρ δὴ τούτων τῶν ἀρχῶν ὑπηρέται οὔτε κατηγόρους ἐπήγοντο οὔτε μάρτυρας τῶν πεπραγμένων παρείχοντο, ἀλλὰ διηνεκὲς πάντα τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἀκατηγόρητοί τε καὶ ἀνεξέλεγκτοι ὡς λαθραιότατα ἐντυχόντες ἐκτείνοντό τε καὶ ἀφῃροῦντο τὰ χρήματα. 20.13Ὕστερον δὲ ὁ παλαμναῖος οὗτος ταύταις τε καὶ τῇ τῷ δήμῳ ἐφεστώσῃ ἀρχῇ πάντων ὁμοίως ἐπιμελεῖσθαι τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἐπέστελλεν, ἐρίζειν σφίσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἰπὼν ὅστις αὐτῶν πλείους τε καὶ θᾶσσον 20.14 διαφθείρειν ἱκανὸς εἴη. καὶ αὐτῶν ἕνα μὲν αὐτὸν