ambitious hopes: but the friendship of the emperor
alleviated his disgrace, and he retained in the mild exile of Cyzicus
an ample portion of his riches. Such imperfect revenge could not satisfy
the unrelenting hatred of Theodora; the murder of his old enemy, the
bishop of Cyzicus, afforded a decent pretence; and John of Cappadocia,
whose actions had deserved a thousand deaths, was at last condemned
for a crime of which he was innocent. A great minister, who had been
invested with the honors of consul and patrician, was ignominiously
scourged like the vilest of malefactors; a tattered cloak was the sole
remnant of his fortunes; he was transported in a bark to the place of
his banishment at Antinopolis in Upper Egypt, and the praefect of the
East begged his bread through the cities which had trembled at his name.
During an exile of seven years, his life was protracted and threatened
by the ingenious cruelty of Theodora; and when her death permitted
the emperor to recall a servant whom he had abandoned with regret, the
ambition of John of Cappadocia was reduced to the humble duties of
the sacerdotal profession. His successors convinced the subjects of
Justinian, that the arts of oppression might still be improved by
experience and industry; the frauds of a Syrian banker were introduced
into the administration of the finances; and the example of the praefect
was diligently copied by the quaestor, the public and private treasurer,
the governors of provinces, and the principal magistrates of the Eastern
empire. [94]

[Footnote 91: One of these, Anatolius, perished in an
earthquake--doubtless a judgment! The complaints and clamors of the
people in Agathias (l. v. p. 146, 147) are almost an echo of the
anecdote. The aliena pecunia reddenda of Corippus (l. ii. 381, &c.,) is
not very honorable to Justinian's memory.]

[Footnote 92: See the history and character of John of Cappadocia in
Procopius. (Persic, l. i. c. 35, 25, l. ii. c. 30. Vandal. l. i. c. 13.
Anecdot. c. 2, 17, 22.) The agreement of the history and anecdotes is a
mortal wound to the reputation of the praefct.]

[Footnote 921: This view, particularly of the cruelty of John of
Cappadocia, is confirmed by the testimony of Joannes Lydus, who was in
the office of the praefect, and eye-witness of the tortures inflicted by
his command on the miserable debtors, or supposed debtors, of the state.
He mentions one horrible instance of a respectable old man, with whom he
wa