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of Bassus, who indeed at a later time 21.7 received the office. Neither of whom was able to preserve his honor for a year, but since they were useless and altogether unsuited to the occasion, after a few months 21.8 they were outside of their office. And so that my account may not be endless as I relate each particular, these things were also done in the other offices in Byzantium. 21.9 And so everywhere in the Roman Empire Justinian did these things. Having selected the most wicked of men, he sold the offices to them for large sums of money. 21.10 For no thought came to a prudent man or one partaking of any intelligence whatsoever to spend his own money, in order to plunder those who had done no 21.11 wrong. And having received this gold from the contributors, he installed them in power 21.12 to do all things to their subjects. from which they, by destroying all the lands along with their inhabitants, 21.13 were destined to become rich themselves for the future. But they, having borrowed the price of the city offices from the bank at some heavy rates of interest and having paid it to the seller, when they came into the cities, always displaying every form of wickedness toward those they governed, they were concerned with nothing else than how they might pay their creditors what was agreed and themselves for the future be ranked among the very richest, since their work involved no danger or disgrace for them, but rather brought them some renown, in proportion to how many of those who fell into their hands they were able to plunder, having killed them for no reason. 21.14 For the name of murderer and robber came to be changed for them into that of 21.15 "man of action." However, as many of those holding office as he perceived to be flourishing in wealth, these he would immediately entrap with accusations and take away all their money at once. 21.16 And after this he wrote a law that those seeking office should swear that they would indeed be clean from all theft, and would neither give anything for the office 21.17 nor receive anything. And he imposed all the curses that are named by the most ancient men, if anyone should transgress what was 21.18 written. But when the law had been established not yet for a year, he himself, having disregarded what was written and cursed, and the shame concerning these things, was selling the prices of the offices more fearlessly, not in a corner, but in the public part of the 21.19 forum. And those who had bought the offices, being doubly perjured, plundered everything more than before. 21.20 And later he devised something else, beyond belief. The offices which he considered most valuable, both in Byzantium and in the other cities, he decided no longer to sell as before, but searching out hired men, he appointed them, having arranged for them, as a wage, to bring 21.21 him all the stolen goods. And they, having received their pay, collected everything more fearlessly from all the land and brought it, and a mercenary power went about, plundering the subjects under the name of the office. 21.22 Thus the emperor, being exacting, all the time appointed over affairs those who were in truth the most abominable of all, and always tracking this evil, 21.23 he achieved it. Therefore, when he had indeed appointed the first wicked men to office and the power of their position brought their depravity to light, we wondered indeed how human nature could have contained such great 21.24 wickedness. But when those who received the offices after some time were able to surpass them by a great margin, men were at a loss among themselves as to how those who had previously seemed most wicked had been defeated by their successors by such an incredible margin, as if they themselves had become good and virtuous in their practices, and again the third group outdid the second in all wickedness, and after them others by the innovations of their crimes 21.25 attached a good name to their predecessors. And as the evil was prolonged, it came about that all learned by experience that wickedness is accustomed to grow infinitely in men, and being nurtured by the learning of what has gone before and by the power of licentiousness to the

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Βάσσου, ὃς δὴ ἐν χρόνῳ 21.7 τῷ ὑστέρῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβεν. ὧνπερ οὐδέτερος ἐνιαυτὸν διασώσασθαι τὴν τιμὴν ἔσχεν, ἀλλ' ἅτε ἀχρεῖοί τε καὶ τοῦ καιροῦ τὸ παράπαν ἀλλόκοτοι μηνῶν που 21.8 ὀλίγων τοῦ ἀξιώματος ἔξω γεγένηνται. ἵνα δὲ μὴ τὸ καθ' ἕκαστόν μοι διηγουμένῳ ἀτελεύτητος ὁ λόγος εἴη, ταῦτα κἀν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἐπράσσετο ταῖς ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ἀρχαῖς. 21.9 Πανταχόθι μέντοι τῆςῬωμαίων ἀρχῆς ὁἸουστινιανὸς ἐποίει τάδε. τοὺς πονηροτάτους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπολεξάμενος διεφθάρθαι ἀπεδίδοτο τὰς ἀρχὰς σφίσι 21.10 χρημάτων μεγάλων. σώφρονι γὰρ ἀνδρὶ ἢ ξυνέσεως ὁπωστιοῦν μεταλαχόντι ἔννοια οὐδεμία ἐγένετο χρήματα οἰκεῖα προΐεσθαι, ἐφ' ᾧ δὴ τοὺς οὐδὲν ἠδικη21.11 κότας ληΐζηται. τοῦτό τε τὸ χρυσίον πρὸς τῶν ξυμβαλλόντων κεκομισμένος ἐς τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοὺς 21.12 ἐνεβίβαζε τοῦ τοὺς κατηκόους πάντα ἐργάζεσθαι. ἀφ' ὧν ἔμελλον τὰς χώρας αὐτοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀπολοῦντες 21.13 ἁπάσας πλούσιοι τὸ λοιπὸν ἔσεσθαι αὐτοί. οἱ δὲ τὰς τῶν πόλεων τιμὰς ἐπὶ τόκοις ἁδροῖς τισιν ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης δεδανεισμένοι καὶ τῷ ἀποδεδομένῳ ἀπαριθμήσαντες, ἐπειδὴ ἐγίνοντο ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι, πᾶσαν κακοῦ ἰδέαν ἐς τοὺς ἀρχομένους ἀεὶ ἐνδεικνύμενοι οὐκ ἄλλου του ἐν ἐπιμελείᾳ καθίσταντο ἢ ὅπως τοῖς χρήσταις τὰ ὡμολογημένα τελέσειαν καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐν τοῖς πλουσιωτάτοις τετάξονται, οὐκ ἔχοντος αὐτοῖς κίνδυνόν τινα ἢ ὕβριν τοῦ ἔργου, φέροντος δέ τι καὶ δόξης μᾶλλον, ὅσῳ καὶ πλείους τῶν σφίσι παραπεπτωκότων οὐδενὶ λόγῳ ἀποκτείναντες ληΐζεσθαι ἴσχυον. 21.14 τὸ γὰρ τοῦ φονέως τε καὶ λῃστοῦ ὄνομα ἐς τὸ τοῦ 21.15 δραστηρίου αὐτοῖς ἀποκεκρίσθαι ξυνέβαινεν. ὅσους μέντοι τῶν ἐχόντων ἀρχὰς ᾔσθετο πλούτῳ ἀκμάζοντας, τούτους δὴ σκήψεσι σαγηνεύσας εὐθὺς ἅπαντα συλλήβδην ἀφῃρεῖτο τὰ χρήματα. 21.16 Μετὰ δὲ νόμον τοὺς τὰς ἀρχὰς ἔγραψε μετιόντας ὀμνύναι ἦ μὴν καθαροὺς ἀπὸ πάσης κλοπῆς σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἔσεσθαι, καὶ μήτε τι δώσειν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἕνεκα 21.17 μήτε λήψεσθαι. ἀράς τε πάσας ἐπέβαλεν, ὅσαι πρὸς τῶν παλαιοτάτων ὠνομασμέναι εἰσὶν, ἤν τις τῶν γε21.18 γραμμένων ἐκβαίη. ἀλλὰ τοῦ νόμου τεθέντος οὔπω ἐνιαυτὸν αὐτὸς μὲν τῶν γεγραμμένων καὶ κατηραμένων ὀλιγωρήσας καὶ τῆς ὑπὲρ τούτων αἰσχύνης, ἀδεέστερον τὰ τιμήματα τῶν ἀρχῶν οὐκ ἐν παραβύστῳ, ἀλλ' ἐς 21.19 τὸ δημόσιον τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἔπραττεν. οἱ δὲ τὰς ἀρχὰς ὠνημένοι διώμοτοι μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον πάντα ἐσύλων. 21.20Ὕστερον δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τι ἐπετεχνήσατο ἀκοῆς κρεῖσσον. τῶν ἀρχῶν, ἅσπερ ἀξιωτάτας ἔν τε Βυζαντίῳ καὶ πόλεσι ταῖς ἄλλαις ᾤετο εἶναι, οὐκέτι ἀπεμπολεῖν ἔγνω ᾗπερ τὰ πρότερα, μισθωτοὺς δὲ διερευνώμενος ἐχειροτόνει, τάξας αὐτοῖς ὅ τι δὴ μισθαρνοῦντας ἀπο21.21 φέρειν αὐτῷ τὰ φώρια πάντα. οἱ δὲ τὴν μίσθωσιν κεκομισμένοι ἀδεέστερον ξυμφορήσαντες ἐκ πάσης γῆς ἅπαντα ἔφερον καὶ περιήρχετο μισθοφόρος ἐξουσία τῷ τῆς ἀρχῆς ὀνόματι καταληϊζομένη τοὺς ὑπηκόους. 21.22 οὕτως ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀκριβολογούμενος τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον ἐκείνους ἐφίστη τοῖς πράγμασιν οἳ δὴ πάντων κατὰ τὸν ἀληθῆ λόγον μιαρώτατοι ἦσαν, ἀεί τε τὸ 21.23 κακὸν τοῦτο ἰχνηλατῶν κατετύγχανεν. ἡνίκα οὖν ἀμέλει τοὺς πρώτους πονηροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς κατεστήσατο ἐς φῶς τε αὐτῶν ἡ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξουσία τὴν κακοτροπίαν ἐξήνεγκεν, ἐθαυμάζομέν γε ὅπως δὴ κακότητα 21.24 τοσαύτην ἀνθρώπου φύσις ἐχώρησεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτοὺς οἱ χρόνῳ τῳ ἀρχὰς ἐκδεξάμενοι πολλῷ τῷ περιόντι παρελᾶν ἴσχυσαν, διηποροῦντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους οἱ ἄνθρωποι ὅντινα τρόπον οἱ πρόσθεν πονηρότατοι δόξαντες τοσούτῳ παραλόγῳ ἅτε αὐτοὶ καλοὶ καὶ ἀγαθοὶ γεγονότες ἐν τοῖς σφετέροις ἐπιτηδεύμασι, πρὸς τῶν ἐπιγενομένων ἡσσήθησαν, αὖθίς τε οἱ τρίτοι τοὺς δευτέρους ὑπερηκόντισαν πονηρίᾳ τῇ πάσῃ, καὶ μετ' ἐκείνους ἕτεροι τοῖς τῶν ἐγκλημάτων καινοτομήμασιν 21.25 ὄνομα χρηστὸν τοῖς φθάσασι προσετρίψαντο. μηκυνομένου τε τοῦ κακοῦ πᾶσιν ἐκμεμαθηκέναι τῷ ἔργῳ ξυνέβη ὅτι δὴ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπ' ἄπειρον μὲν ἡ πονηρία φύεσθαι εἴωθε, μαθήσει δὲ τῶν προγεγενημένων ἐκτρεφομένη καὶ τῇ τῆς παρρησίας ἐξουσίᾳ ἐς τὸ