ns until the arrival of Alexander Forficula[18]
in Italy. He resolved to deprive them of it immediately; and, when the
Emperor was informed of this, he approved of his conduct, and treated
Alexander with still greater honour. During his journey, Alexander
treated the Greeks in the following manner:--The peasants of the
district near the pass of Thermopylae had long manned the fortress,
and, each in turn, mounted guard over the wall which blocks the pass,
whenever there seemed any likelihood of an invasion of the barbarians.
But Alexander, on his arrival, pretended that it was to the interest
of the Peloponnesians not to leave the protection of the pass to the
peasants. He established a garrison of about 2,000 soldiers, who were
not paid out of the public funds, but by each of the cities in Greece.
On this pretext, he transferred to the public treasury all the
revenues of these towns which were intended for public purposes or to
cover the expenses of shows and entertainments. He pretended that it
was to be employed for the support of the soldiers, and in
consequence, from that time, no public buildings or other objects of
utility were erected or promoted either in Athens or throughout
Greece. Justinian, however, hastened to give his sanction to all the
acts of Forficula.

We must now speak of the poor of Alexandria. Amongst the lawyers of
that city was one Hephaestus, who, having been appointed governor,
suppressed popular disturbances by the terror he inspired, but at the
same time reduced the citizens to the greatest distress. He
immediately established a monopoly of all wares, which he forbade
other merchants to sell. He reserved everything for himself alone,
sold everything himself, and fixed the price by the capricious
exercise of his authority. Consequently, the city was in the greatest
distress from want of provisions; the poor no longer had a sufficient
supply of what was formerly sold at a low rate, and especially felt
the difficulty of obtaining bread; for the governor alone bought up
all the corn that came from Egypt, and did not allow anyone else to
purchase even so much as a bushel; and in this manner, he taxed the
loaves and put upon them what price he pleased. By this means he
amassed an enormous fortune, and was likewise careful to satisfy the
greed of the Emperor. So great was the terror inspired by Hephaestus,
that the people of Alexandria endured their ill-treatment in silence;
and the Emperor, out of