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he abolished, and he inflicted greater 23.8 sufferings upon those who had fallen into them. And indeed to these people for whom he remitted this ridiculous tax and to all the others, who had often received the Median army, and with Huns and barbarian Saracens continually plundering the land of the East, and no less with the barbarians in Europe always and every day doing these things to the Romans there, this emperor immediately became more harsh 23.9 than all the barbarians. For by `synonai` and the so-called `epibolai` and `diagraphai`, the masters of the lands, after the enemies had withdrawn, were immediately 23.10 captured. But what these names are and mean, I shall declare. 23.11 They compel those who possess lands to maintain the Roman army according to the measure of the assessment imposed on each, with payments being made not as the present occasion of need allows, but as is possible and has been decreed, and without investigating whether it happens that 23.12 the provisions are in their country. And the necessity has encompassed these wretched men of bringing in all the provisions for both soldiers and horses, buying them at prices much too high, and this from a country that might be, as it happens, somewhere far away, and to carry these to the place where the army happens to be, and to measure out to the purveyors of the soldiers, not as is the custom for all men, 23.13 but as might be pleasing to them. And this is the practice which is called `synone`, from which it happens that all the masters of the lands are enfeebled. 23.14 For they are compelled to pay from it an annual tax no less than ten times greater, seeing that it befell them, having suffered these things, not only to supply the army, as has been said, but also often to transport grain to Byzantium, since not only the man called Barsymes dared to commit such an offense, but also formerly the Cappadocian, and later those after Barsymes who received this very office of authority. 23.15 So then, the matter of the `synone` is something like this; but the name `epibole` is a certain unforeseen destruction, suddenly coming upon those who possess lands and rubbing out for them by the roots the hope of life. 23.16 For the tax of lands which have become desolate and unproductive, whose masters and farmers indeed it has already befallen either to have perished completely, or having abandoned their ancestral land, to hide themselves because of the evils pressing upon them on account of these things, they do not disdain to impose on those not yet completely ruined. 23.17 Such, then, is also the name of `epibole`, which has come to the surface, as is likely, especially in this time. But the matter of the `diagraphai`, to state it as briefly as possible and be 23.18 done with it, is something like this. It was necessary for the cities to be burdened with many penalties, especially in these times; the occasions and methods of which I omit to speak of at present, so that my account may not be 23.19 endless. These those who held the lands paid, paying an assessment in proportion to the tax imposed on each. 23.20 But the evil did not stop at this for them, but also when the plague had encompassed the whole inhabited world and not least the Roman empire and had destroyed the greater part of the farmers, and from this, as was likely, the lands had become desolate, he used no mercy toward their 23.21 masters. For he never ceased exacting the annual tax, not only that which fell upon each, but also 23.22 the portion of the neighbors who had perished. And in addition to this for them were all the other things which I just mentioned, since they were always pressing upon those who had been unfortunate in the possession of their lands, and furthermore, to serve the soldiers who were lodged in the finest and most valuable of their own rooms, while they themselves all this time had their dwelling in the meanest and most neglected of the little houses. 23.23 All which things it happened were always being done to the people under the reign of Justinian and Theodora, since neither war nor any other of the greatest evils 23.24 in this very

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καθεῖλε, μείζω τε προσετρίψατο 23.8 τοῖς περιπεπτωκόσι τὰ πάθη. 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 καθ' ἑκάστην τοὺς ἐκείνῃῬωμαίους, βασιλεὺς οὗτος χαλεπώτερος εὐθὺς γέγονε 23.9 βαρβάρων ἁπάντων. συνωναῖς τε γὰρ καὶ ταῖς καλουμέναις ἐπιβολαῖς τε καὶ διαγραφαῖς οἱ τῶν χωρίων κύριοι τῶν πολεμίων ἀνακεχωρηκότων αὐτίκα μάλα 23.10 ἡλίσκοντο. ὅ τι δὲ τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστί τε καὶ βούλεται ταῦτα, ἐγὼ δηλώσω. 23.11 Τοὺς τὰ χωρία κεκτημένους ἀναγκάζουσι τὸνῬωμαίων ἐκτρέφειν στρατὸν κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς κειμένης ἑκάστῳ φορᾶς, τιμημάτων καταβαλλομένων οὐχ ᾗπερ ἐφίησιν ὁ παρὼν τῇ χρείᾳ καιρὸς, ἀλλ' ᾗπερ ἔξεστι καὶ διώρισται, οὐ διερευνώμενοι δὲ, εἴπερ αὐτοῖς 23.12 τὰ ἐπιτήδεια ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ξυμβαίνει. 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, 23.13 ἀλλ' ᾗπερ ἐκείνοις ἂν βουλομένοις εἴη. καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ πρᾶγμα ὅπερ συνωνὴ καλεῖται, ἐξ οὗ δὴ ἅπασιν ἐκνενευρίσθαι τοῖς τῶν χωρίων κυρίοις ξυμβαίνει. 23.14 φόρον γὰρ ἀπ' 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. 23.15 Τὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς συνωνῆς ταύτῃ πη ἔχει· τὸ δὲ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ὄνομα ὄλεθρός τίς ἐστιν ἀπρόοπτος ἐξαπιναίως τοῖς τὰ χωρία κεκτημένοις ἐπιγενόμενος πρόρριζόν τε αὐτοῖς ἐκτρίβων τὴν τοῦ βίου ἐλπίδα. 23.16 χωρίων γὰρ τὸ τέλος τῶν ἐρήμων τε καὶ ἀπόρων γεγενημένων, ὧν δὴ τοῖς τε κυρίοις καὶ τοῖς γεωργοῖς ἤδη τετύχηκεν ἢ παντάπασιν ἀπολωλέναι, ἢ γῆν πατρῴαν ἀπολιποῦσι τοῖς ἐγκειμένοις σφίσι διὰ ταῦτα κακοῖς κρύπτεσθαι, οὐκ ἀπαξιοῦσιν ἐπιφέρειν τοῖς οὔπω διεφθαρμένοις παντάπασι. 23.17 Τοιοῦτο μὲν καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐπιβολῆς ὄνομά ἐστιν, ἐπιπολάσαν ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς ἐπὶ τὸν χρόνον μάλιστα τοῦτον. τὰ δὲ τῶν διαγραφῶν ὡς συντομώτατα φράσαντι ἀπηλ23.18 λάχθαι τῇδέ πη ἔχει. ζημίαις πολλαῖς ἄλλως τε καὶ ὑπὸ τοὺς χρόνους τούτους περιβάλλεσθαι τὰς πόλεις ἦν ἀνάγκη· ὧνπερ τάς τε ἀφορμὰς καὶ τοὺς τρόπους ἀφίημι λέγειν ἐν τῷ παρόντι, ὡς μή μοι ὁ λόγος 23.19 ἀπέραντος εἴη. ταύτας οἱ τὰ χωρία ἔχοντες ἀπέτινον, τίμημα κατατιθέντες κατὰ λόγον τῆς ἐγκειμένης ἑκάστῳ 23.20 φορᾶς. οὐκ ἄχρι δὲ τούτων αὐτοῖς τὸ κακὸν ἔστη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ λοιμοῦ ξύμπασαν περιλαβόντος τήν τε ἄλλην οἰκουμένην καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα τὴν τῶνῬωμαίων ἀρχὴν τῶν τε γεωργῶν ἀφανίσαντος μέρος τὸ πλεῖστον, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἐρήμων ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς τῶν χωρίων γεγενημένων, οὐδεμιᾷ φειδοῖ ἐχρήσατο ἐς τοὺς τούτων 23.21 κυρίους. φόρον γὰρ τὸν ἐπέτειον οὔποτε ἀνίει πραττόμενος οὐχ ᾗπερ ἑκάστῳ ἐπέβαλλε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ 23.22 γειτόνων τῶν ἀπολωλότων τὴν μοῖραν. προσῆν δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ὧνπερ ἐμνήσθην ἀρτίως ἅτε τοῖς τῶν χωρίων δεδυστυχηκόσι τὴν κτῆσιν ἀεὶ ἐγκειμένων, ἔτι μέντοι καὶ τοῖς μὲν στρατιώταις ἀνὰ τὰ κάλλιστά τε καὶ τιμιώτατα δωματίων τῶν σφετέρων ᾠκημένοις ὑπηρετεῖν, αὐτοῖς δὲ πάντα τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἐν τοῖς φαυλοτάτοις τε καὶ ἀπημελημένοις τῶν οἰκιδίων δίαιταν ἔχειν. 23.23Ἅπερ ἅπαντα ὑπὸ τὴνἸουστινιανοῦ τε καὶ Θεοδώρας βασιλείαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀεὶ γίνεσθαι ξυνέβη, ἐπεὶ οὔτε πόλεμον οὔτε τι ἄλλο τῶν μεγίστων κακῶν 23.24 ἐν τούτῳ δὴ τῷ