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This Faustinus came to senatorial rank and held the governorship of the province, from which he was removed, and not long afterward, when he came to Byzantium, some of the priests slandered him, bringing the charge that he was observing the customs of the Samaritans, and that he had done unholy deeds to the Christians 27.28 living in Palestine. Justinian, on this account, seemed to be enraged and to take it ill that, while he held the rule of the Romans, the name of Christ 27.29 should be disparaged by anyone. So those of the senatorial council, having made the investigation of the matter, punished Faustinus with exile, since the Emperor was 27.30 pressing them. But the Emperor, having received from him as much money as he wished, immediately made the judgments 27.31 invalid. And Faustinus, again holding his former rank, both consorted with the Emperor and, having been appointed administrator of the imperial domains in Palestine and Phoenicia, carried out more fearlessly all that he himself wished 27.32 to be. In what way, then, Justinian deigned to protect the rights of the Christians, although not many things have been said by us, it is possible to infer, nevertheless, from these few 27.33 examples. And how he overthrew the laws with no hesitation when money was at stake will be shown in a very short account. 28.1 A certain Priscus was in the city of the Emesenes, who knew how to imitate the writing of others skilfully, and he was an exceedingly clever artisan in this evil craft. 28.2 Now it happened that the church of the Emesenes had become the heir of a certain distinguished man many 28.3 years before. This man was a patrician in rank, Mammianus by name, illustrious by birth and in the 28.4 abundance of his wealth. And while Justinian was reigning, Priscus investigated all the households of the said city, and if he found any who were flourishing in wealth and were sufficiently able to bear a loss of great sums of money, having investigated their ancestors with precision and having come upon old documents of theirs, he forged many documents as if written by them, acknowledging that they would pay large sums of money to Mammianus, since they had received these from him by way of a deposit. 28.5 And the gold acknowledged in these forged documents amounted to no less than one hundred 28.6 centenaria. And of a certain man, who at that time was established in the marketplace, when Mammianus was alive, and who had a great reputation for truth and other virtue, and who executed all the documents of the citizens, sealing each with his own writing, whom the Romans call a tabellio, having miraculously imitated his writing, he handed them over to those managing the affairs of the church of the Emesenes, who had agreed that a certain share of the money to be procured from this source should be set aside for him. 28.7 But since the law stood in the way, bringing all other suits to a thirty-year statute of limitations, and barring a few others, including those called mortgage actions, with a length of forty years, 28.8 they devised the following. Arriving in Byzantium and offering large sums of money to this Emperor, they begged him to work with them for the ruin of the citizens, who were guilty of nothing. 28.9 And he, having received the money, without any delay wrote a law that the churches should not be barred from suits pertaining to them by the customary time limits, but by a period of one hundred years, and that this should be valid not only in Emesa, but also 28.10 throughout the entire Roman Empire. And he appointed a certain Longinus, an energetic man and very strong of body, to adjudicate this matter for the Emesenes, who also later held the office of praetor of the people 28.11 in Byzantium. Those managing the affairs of the church, first bringing suit against one of the citizens for two centenaria from the aforesaid documents, immediately won a conviction against the man, since he had no defense to offer on account of so great a length of time and his ignorance of what had then been done. 28.12 And in great grief sat all the other people, equally exposed to the false accusers, and most of all the most notable of the Emesenes. 28.13 Of the evil

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οὗτος ὁ Φαυστῖνος ἔς τε βουλῆς ἀξίωμα ἦλθε καὶ τῆς χώρας τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν, ἧσπερ αὐτὸν παραλυθέντα οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἔς τε τὸ Βυζάντιον ἥκοντα τῶν τινες ἱερέων διέβαλλον ἐπενεγκάμενοι ὡς Σαμαρειτῶν νόμιμα περιστέλλει, καὶ Χριστιανοὺς δράσειε τοὺς ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ 27.28 ᾠκημένους ἀνόσια ἔργα.Ἰουστινιανὸς δὲ ἀγριαίνεσθαί τε καὶ δεινὰ ποιεῖσθαι διὰ ταῦτα ἐδόκει, ὅτι δὴ αὐτοῦ τὴνῬωμαίων ἀρχὴν ἔχοντος τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὄνομα 27.29 ὑφ' ὁτουοῦν διασύροιτο. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐκ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς τὴν διάγνωσιν πεποιημένοι τοῦ πράγματος φυγῇ τὸν Φαυστῖνον ἐζημίωσαν, βασιλέως ἐγ27.30 κειμένου σφίσι. βασιλεὺς δὲ πρὸς αὐτοῦ χρήματα ὅσα ἐβούλετο κεκομισμένος ἀνάδικα εὐθὺς τὰ δεδικασμένα 27.31 ἐποίησε. Φαυστῖνος δὲ αὖθις τὸ πρότερον ἀξίωμα ἔχων, βασιλεῖ τε ὡμίλει ἐπίτροπός τε καταστὰς τῶν ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ τε καὶ Φοινίκῃ βασιλικῶν χωρίων ἀδεέστερον ἅπαντα κατειργάζετο ὅσα οἱ αὐτῷ βουλομένῳ 27.32 εἴη. ὅντινα μὲν οὖνἸουστινιανὸς τρόπον τὰ Χριστιανῶν δικαιώματα περιστέλλειν ἠξίου, καίπερ οὐ πολλῶν εἰρημένων ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶνδε βραχέων ὄντων τεκ27.33 μηριοῦν ἔστιν. ὅπως δὲ καὶ τοὺς νόμους οὐδεμιᾷ ὀκνήσει κατέσειε χρημάτων κειμένων βραχυτάτῳ δηλωθήσεται λόγῳ. 28.1 Πρίσκος τις ἐν τῇἘμεσηνῶν ἐγένετο πόλει, ὅσπερ ἀλλότρια γράμματα μιμεῖσθαι εὐφυῶς ἐξηπίστατο, τεχνίτης τε ἦν περὶ τὸ κακὸν τοῦτο δεξιὸς ἄγαν. 28.2 ἐτύγχανε δὲ ἡ τῶνἘμεσηνῶν ἐκκλησία τῶν τινος ἐπιφανῶν κληρονόμος γεγενημένη χρόνοις τισὶ πολλοῖς 28.3 ἔμπροσθεν. ἦν δὲ οὗτος ἀνὴρ πατρίκιος μὲν τὸ ἀξίωμα, Μαμμιανὸς δὲ ὄνομα, γένει λαμπρὸς καὶ πε28.4 ριουσίᾳ χρημάτων. ἐπὶ δὲἸουστινιανοῦ βασιλεύοντος ὁ Πρίσκος διερευνησάμενος πόλεως τῆς εἰρημένης τὰς οἰκίας πάσας, εἴ τινας εὗρέ τε πλούτῳ ἀκμάζοντας καὶ πρὸς ζημίαν χρημάτων μεγάλων διαρκῶς ἔχοντας, τούτων διερευνησάμενος ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς τοὺς προπάτορας, γράμμασιν αὐτῶν παλαιοῖς ἐντυχὼν, βιβλίδια πολλὰ ὡς παρ' ἐκείνων γεγραμμένα πεποίηται, ὁμολογούντων πολλὰ χρήματα τῷ Μαμμιανῷ ἀποδώσειν ἅτε παρακαταθήκης λόγῳ ταῦτα πρὸς ἐκείνου κεκομισμένων. 28.5 τό τε ὡμολογημένον ἐν τούτοις δὴ τοῖς καταπλάστοις γραμματείοις χρυσίον ξυνῄει οὐχ ἧσσον ἢ ἐς ἑκατὸν 28.6 κεντηνάρια. καὶ ἀνδρὸς δέ τινος, ὅσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς τηνικάδε τοῦ χρόνου καθήμενος, ἡνίκα ὁ Μαμμιανὸς περιῆν, δόξαν τε πολλὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ ἀρετῇ ἔχων, ἅπαντα ἐπετέλει τὰ τῶν πολιτῶν γραμματεῖα, ἕκαστον οἰκείοις ἐπισφραγίζων αὐτὸς γράμμασιν, ὅνπερ ταβελλίωνα καλοῦσιῬωμαῖοι, τὰ γράμματα δαιμονίως μιμησάμενος τοῖς διοικουμένοις τὰ πράγματα τῆςἘμεσηνῶν ἐκκλησίας παρέδωκεν, ὡμολογηκόσι μοῖραν αὐτῷ τινα κεῖσθαι τῶν ἐνθένδε πορι28.7 σθησομένων χρημάτων. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ νόμος ἐμποδὼν ἵστατο, τὰς μὲν ἄλλας δίκας ἁπάσας ἐς τριακοντοῦτιν παραγραφὴν ἄγων, ὀλίγας δὲ ἄττας καὶ τὰς ὑποθηκαρίας καλουμένας τεσσαράκοντα ἐνιαυτῶν μήκει ἐκ28.8 κρούων, μηχανῶνται τοιάδε. ἐς Βυζάντιον ἀφικόμενοι καὶ χρήματα μεγάλα τῷ βασιλεῖ τούτῳ προέμενοι ἐδέοντο σφίσι τὸν τῶν πολιτῶν ὄλεθρον οὐδὲν ὠφληκό28.9 των ξυγκατεργάζεσθαι. ὁ δὲ τὰ χρήματα κεκομισμένος μελλήσει οὐδεμιᾷ νόμον ἔγραψεν, οὐ χρόνοις τὰς ἐκκλησίας τοῖς καθήκουσιν, ἀλλ' ἐνιαυτῶν ἑκατὸν πλήθει δικῶν τῶν αὐταῖς προσηκουσῶν ἀποκεκλεῖσθαι, καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐνἘμέσῃ μόνον κύρια εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ 28.10 ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴνῬωμαίων ἀρχήν.Ἐμεσηνοῖς τε τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο διαιτᾶν ἔταξε Λογγῖνόν τινα δραστήριόν τε ἄνδρα καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἰσχυρὸν ἄγαν, ὃς καὶ τὴν τοῦ 28.11 δήμου ἀρχὴν ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ὕστερον ἔσχεν. οἱ δὲ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὰ πράγματα διοικούμενοι τὰ μὲν πρῶτα τῶν τινι τῶν πολιτῶν δίκην κεντηναρίοιν ἐκ βιβλίων τῶν εἰρημένων λαχόντες δυοῖν, κατεδικάσαντο τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εὐθὺς, ὅ τι καὶ ἀπολογήσαιτο οὐδαμῆ ἔχοντος διά τε χρόνου τοσόνδε μῆκος καὶ ἄγνοιαν τῶν τότε 28.12 πεπραγμένων. ἐν πένθει δὲ μεγάλῳ ἐκάθηντο οἵ τε ἄλλοι ξύμπαντες ἄνθρωποι ὁμῶς τοῖς συκοφάνταις ἐκκείμενοι καὶ πάντων μάλιστα οἱ τῶνἘμεσηνῶν λογι28.13 μώτατοι. τοῦ δὲ κακοῦ