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to the emperor and the magistrates in Byzantium, either serving as soldiers or handling documents or performing any other service, are ranked at first as last in the lists, but as time goes on, always advancing into the place of those who die or retire, each of their respective rank proceeds to this point, until someone, having stepped upon the first grade 24.31 finally reaches the limit of his honor. And for those who have reached this dignity, money has been appointed from of old in such great quantity that more than one hundred centenaria of gold was collected for them each year, and they themselves were supported in old age and it happened that many of the others shared with them in the benefit for the most part from this source, and the affairs of the state 24.32 in this way always advanced to a great state of prosperity. But this emperor, having deprived them of almost all of these things, brought evils both upon them and upon other men. For poverty, having first laid hold of them, then also proceeded through the others, who previously also had some share of the benefit. 24.33 And if anyone should calculate for thirty-two years the loss which had befallen them from this source, he will find the measure of what they happened to be deprived. 25.1 This tyrant thus dealt with the soldiers. But what things by him against merchants and sailors and artisans and men of the marketplace, both through them and against all others have been wrought, 25.2 I am coming to tell. There are two straits on either side of Byzantium, one on the Hellespont around Sestos and Abydos, and the other at the mouth of the so-called Euxine Pontus, where the place is named Hieron. 25.3 Now in the strait of the Hellespont there was by no means a public customs-house, but a certain official sent by the emperor was stationed at Abydos, searching, on the one hand, if any ship carrying arms should go to Byzantium not with the emperor's approval, and if anyone should set sail from Byzantium not carrying the documents and seals of the men to whom this honor is entrusted (for it is not lawful for anyone to set sail from Byzantium not being permitted by the men who serve in the office of the so-called magister), and exacting from the masters of the ships a duty which caused no one to notice, but rather as a kind of fee, which the man holding 25.4 this office claimed to receive for this work; however the one sent to the other strait always received his salary from the emperor and he would search carefully both these things which I have mentioned, and if anything was being brought to the barbarians, who are settled along the Euxine Pontus, of which it is not lawful to be brought from the land of the Romans to the enemy. However, it was not permitted for this man to accept anything from those sailing there. 25.5 But from the time Justinian took over the empire, he established a public customs-house in each strait and sending two salaried officials permanently he provided them the agreed upon salary, but he ordered them to bring him as much money as possible 25.6 from there with all their might. And they, being eager to show nothing other than their goodwill towards him, plundering absolutely all the prices of the cargoes from those who were sailing, departed. 25.7 So, in each strait he did these things; but in Byzantium he devised the following. He appointed one of his associates, a Syrian by birth, named Addaeus, whom he indeed ordered from the ships putting in here 25.8 to procure some profit for him. And he, all the ships putting into the harbor of Byzantium, no longer let go from there, but he either fined the shipmasters by the prices of their own ships or forced them to carry cargoes to Libya and 25.9 Italy. And of them, some no longer wished either to take on a return cargo or to work the sea, but after burning their own ships, they immediately departed gladly. 25.10 However, for as many as it was necessary to make their living from this very trade, these, having received a threefold wage from the merchants, for the future loaded their cargo. And it devolved upon the merchants to recover this loss for themselves from those buying the cargoes, and so it came about that the Romans were starved by every device. 25.11 But these things in this way were carried on in the state. But what things also concerning the

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βασιλεῖ τε καὶ ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ἢ ὁπλιζόμενοι ἢ γράμματα διαχειρίζοντες ἢ ἄλλο ὁτιοῦν ὑπηρετοῦντες τάσσονται μὲν ἐν τοῖς καταλόγοις ἀρχὴν ἔσχατοι, προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου ἀναβαίνοντες ἀεὶ ἐς τῶν ἀπογινομένων ἢ ὑπεξιόντων τὴν χώραν τάξεως ἕκαστοι τῆς κατ' αὐτοὺς ἐς τόδε χωροῦσιν, ἕως ἄν τις βαθμοῦ ἐπιβεβηκὼς τοῦ πρώτου 24.31 ἤδη ἐς τὸ τῆς τιμῆς ἀφίκηται πέρας. καὶ τοῖς ἐς τοῦτο ἀξιώματος ἥκουσι χρήματα ἐκ παλαιοῦ διατέτακται τοσαῦτα τὸ πλῆθος ὥστε πλέον ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος ἢ ἐς ἑκατὸν χρυσοῦ ἀγείρεσθαι κεντηνάρια τούτοις, καὶ αὐτούς τε γηροκομεῖσθαι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολλοὺς μετέχειν αὐτοῖς ὠφελείας ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον τῆς ἔνθεν ξυνέβαινε, τῆς τε πολιτείας τὰ πράγματα 24.32 ἐπὶ μέγα εὐπορίας ἀεὶ ταύτῃ ἐχώρει. ἀλλὰ βασιλεὺς ὅδε τούτων αὐτοὺς ἀποστερήσας σχεδόν τι ἁπάντων, αὐτοῖς τε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις κακὰ ἤνεγκεν. ἁψαμένη γὰρ αὐτῶν ἡ πενία πρῶτον, εἶτα καὶ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐχώρει, οἷς τι καὶ πρότερον ὠφελείας μετῆν. 24.33 καὶ ἤν τις τὴν ξυμπεπτωκυῖαν αὐτοῖς ἐνθένδε ζημίαν ἐς ἔτη δύο καὶ τριάκοντα διαριθμοῖτο, εὑρήσει τὸ μέτρον ὧνπερ αὐτοὺς ἀποστερεῖσθαι ξυνέπεσε. 25.1 Τοὺς μὲν στρατευομένους οὕτως ὁ τύραννος ὅδε διεχρήσατο. ἅπερ δὲ αὐτῷ ἐς ἐμπόρους τε καὶ ναύτας καὶ βαναύσους καὶ ἀγοραίους ἀνθρώπους, δι' αὐτῶν τε καὶ ἐς τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας εἴργασται, 25.2 φράσων ἔρχομαι. πορθμὼ δύο ἑκατέρωθεν Βυζαντίου ἐστὸν, ἅτερος μὲν ἐφ'Ἑλλησπόντου ἀμφὶ Σηστόν τε καὶἌβυδον, ὁ δὲ δὴ ἕτερος ἐπὶ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ Εὐξείνου καλουμένου Πόντου, οὗ τὸἹερὸν ὀνομάζεται. 25.3 ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷἙλλησπόντου πορθμῷ τελωνεῖον μὲν ἐν δημοσίῳ ὡς ἥκιστα ἦν, ἄρχων δέ τις ἐκ βασιλέως στελλόμενος ἐνἈβύδῳ καθῆστο, διερευνώμενος μὲν, ἢν ναῦς ὅπλα φέρουσα ἐς Βυζάντιον οὐ βασιλέως ἴοι γνώμῃ, καὶ ἤν τις ἐκ Βυζαντίου ἀνάγοιτο οὐ φερόμενος γράμματα τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ σημεῖα οἷς ἐπίκειται ἡ τιμὴ αὕτη (οὐ γὰρ θέμις τινὰ ἐκ Βυζαντίου ἀνάγεσθαι οὐκ ἀφειμένον πρὸς τῶν ἀνδρῶν, οἳ τῇ τοῦ μαγίστρου καλουμένου ἀρχῇ ὑπουργοῦσι) πραττόμενος δὲ τοὺς τῶν πλοίων κυρίους τέλος δὲ οὐδενὶ αἴσθησιν παρεχόμενον ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τινὰ μισθὸν ὁ ταύτην 25.4 δὴ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχων τοῦ ἔργου τούτου λαμβάνειν ἠξίου· ὁ μέντοι ἐπὶ πορθμοῦ τοῦ ἑτέρου στελλόμενος τὸν μισθὸν ἀεὶ πρὸς βασιλέως κεκομισμένος ἦν καὶ διερευνώμενος ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς ταῦτά τε, ἅπερ μοι εἴρηται, καὶ ἤν τι ἐς τοὺς βαρβάρους κομίζοιτο, οἳ παρὰ τὸν Εὔξεινον ἵδρυνται Πόντον, ὧνπερ οὐ θέμις ἐκῬωμαίων τῆς γῆς ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους κομίζεσθαι. οὐδὲν μέντοι ἐξῆν τῷ ἀνδρὶ τούτῳ πρὸς τῶν τῇδε ναυτιλλο25.5 μένων προσίεσθαι. ἐξ οὗ δὲἸουστινιανὸς τὴν βασιλείαν παρέλαβε, τελωνεῖόν τε δημόσιον κατεστήσατο ἐν πορθμῷ ἑκατέρῳ καὶ μισθοφόρους ἄρχοντας δύο ἐς ἀεὶ πέμπων μίσθωσιν μὲν αὐτοῖς παρείχετο τὴν ξυγκειμένην, ἐπήγγελλε δὲ χρήματά οἱ ὅτι πλεῖστα 25.6 ἐνθένδε ἀποφέρειν δυνάμει τῇ πάσῃ. οἱ δὲ ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἢ εὔνοιάν οἱ τὴν ἐς αὐτὸν ἐνδείκνυσθαι ἐν σπουδῇ ἔχοντες ἁπαξάπαντα πρὸς τῶν πλεόντων τὰ τῶν φορτίων τιμήματα ληϊζόμενοι ἀπηλλάσσοντο. 25.7Ἐν μὲν οὖν πορθμῷ ἑκατέρῳ ταῦτα ἐποίει· ἐν δὲ Βυζαντίῳ ἐπενόει τάδε. τῶν τινά οἱ ἐπιτηδείων προὐστήσατο, Σύρον μὲν γένος, ὄνομα δὲἈδδαῖον, ᾧ δὴ ἐπήγγελλεν ἐκ νηῶν τῶν ἐνταῦθα καταιρουσῶν 25.8 ὄνησίν τινά οἱ πορίζεσθαι. ὁ δὲ πλοῖα ἅπαντα τὰ καταίροντα ἐς τὸν Βυζάντιον λιμένα οὐκέτι ἐνθένδε ἠφίει, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ναυκλήρους ἢ τοῖς τιμήμασιν ἐζημίου νηῶν τῶν σφετέρων ἢ ἀναφορεῖν ἔς τε Λιβύην καὶ 25.9Ἰταλίαν ἠνάγκαζε. καὶ αὐτῶν οἱ μὲν οὔτε ἀντιφορτίζεσθαι οὔτε θαλαττουργεῖν ἔτι ἤθελον, ἀλλὰ καύσαντες τὰ σφέτερα πλοῖα εὐθὺς ἄσμενοι ἀπηλλάσσοντο. 25.10 ὅσοις μέντοι ἐπάναγκες ἦν ἐκ ταύτης δὴ τῆς ἐργασίας τὸν βίον ποιεῖσθαι, οὗτοι δὴ τριπλασίαν πρὸς τῶν ἐμπόρων τὴν μίσθωσιν κεκομισμένοι τὸ λοιπὸν ἐφορτίζοντο τοῖς τε ἐμπόροις περιειστήκει ταύτην σφίσιν αὐτοῖς τὴν ζημίαν πρὸς τῶν τὰ φορτία ὠνουμένων ἰάσασθαι, οὕτω τε λιμοκτονεῖσθαι πάσῃ μηχανῇ τοὺςῬωμαίους ξυνέβαινεν. 25.11Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν τῇδε κατὰ τὴν πολιτείαν ἐφέρετο. ἃ δὲ καὶ ἐς τὰ