before deciding it, but as soon as he had heard
the plaintiff he straightway pronounced his judgment upon it. He wrote
decrees, without the slightest hesitation, for the capture of
fortresses, the burning of cities, the enslaving of whole races of men
for no crime whatever, so that, if anyone were to reckon all the
calamities of this nature which have befallen the Roman people before
his time, and weigh them against those which were brought about by
him, I imagine that it would be found that this man was guilty of far
more bloodshed than any ruler of previous times.

He had no hesitation in coolly appropriating people's property, and
did not even trouble himself to put forward any pretext or colourable
legal ground for taking another man's goods; and, when he had got it,
he was quite ready to squander it in foolish munificence or to spend
it in unreasonable largesses to the barbarians. In fine, he neither
had any property himself, nor would he suffer anyone else of all his
subjects to have any; so that he did not seem to be so much governed
by avarice as by jealousy of those who possessed wealth. He carelessly
drove all the wealth of the Romans out of the country, and was the
cause of general impoverishment. Such was the character of Justinian,
as far as I am able to describe it.

CHAPTER IX

As for Justinian's wife, I shall now describe her birth, how she was
brought up, how she married him, and how in conjunction with him she
utterly ruined the Roman Empire.

There was one Acacius at Byzantium, of the Green faction, who was
keeper of the wild beasts used in the amphitheatre, and was called the
Bear-keeper. This man died of some malady during the reign of
Anastasius, and left three daughters, Comito, Theodora and Anastasia,
the eldest of whom was not yet seven years of age. His widow married
her husband's successor in his house and profession; but the chief
dancer of the Green faction, named Asterius, was easily bribed into
taking away the office from this man and giving it to one who paid him
for it: for the dancers had the power to manage these matters as they
pleased.

When Theodora's mother saw the whole populace assembled in the
amphitheatre to see the show of the wild beasts, she placed fillets on
her daughters' heads and hands, and made them sit in the attitude of
suppliants. The Greens regarded their appeal with indifference, but
the Blues, who had lately lost their own bear-keeper, bestowed the