ve anything to do with that branch of
industry, and, while he handed over part of his gains to the Emperor,
he kept the greater part for himself, and thus grew wealthy at the
expense of the unfortunate public.

CHAPTER XXVI

I must now relate how he robbed Byzantium and other cities of their
ornaments. In the first place he resolved to humiliate the lawyers. He
deprived them of all the fees, which, after they had finished their
case, were considerable, and enriched them and increased their
distinction. He ordered that litigants should come to an agreement
upon oath, which brought the lawyers into contempt and insignificance.
After he had seized the estates of the Senators and other families
reputed wealthy, in Byzantium and throughout the Empire, the
profession had little to do, for the citizens no longer possessed
property worth disputing about. Thus, of the numerous and famous
orators who once composed this order there remained only a few, who
were everywhere despised and lived in the greatest poverty, finding
that their profession brought them nothing but insult. He also caused
physicians and professors of the liberal arts to be deprived of the
necessaries of life. He cut off from them all the supplies which
former emperors had attached to these professions, and which were paid
out of the State funds. Further, he had no scruple about transferring
to the public funds all the revenues which the inhabitants of the
cities had devoted either to public purposes or for providing
entertainments. From that time no attention was paid to physicians or
professors; no one ventured to trouble himself about the public
buildings; there were no public lights in the cities, or any
enjoyments for the inhabitants; the performances in the theatres and
hippodromes and the combats of wild beasts, in which Theodora had been
bred and brought up, were entirely discontinued. He afterwards
suppressed public exhibitions in Byzantium, to save the usual State
contribution, to the ruin of an almost countless multitude who found
their means of support in these entertainments. Their life, both in
public and private, became sad and dejected and utterly joyless, as if
some misfortune had fallen upon them from Heaven. Nothing was spoken
of in conversation at home, in the streets, or in the churches, except
misfortune and suffering. Such was the state of the cities.

I have still something important to mention. Every year two consuls
were app