gard for him and showed him very great favour, condescending
to make him the chief instrument of his extortion and sole arbiter in
legal decisions. By this means Constantine in a short time amassed
great wealth, but his insolence was outrageous, and his pride led him
to treat everyone with contempt. Even those who were desirous of
making him considerable presents were obliged to intrust them to those
who seemed to be most in his confidence, for no one was permitted to
approach or converse with him, except when he was hurrying to or
returning from the Emperor. Even then he did not slacken his pace,
but walked on hastily, for fear that those who approached him might
waste his time without paying for it. Such was the manner in which
Justinian dealt with the Quaestorship.

CHAPTER XXI

The Praefect of the supreme tribunals, besides the public tax,
annually paid to the Emperor more than thirty centenars of gold. This
sum was called the "aerial tribute," doubtless because it was no
regular or usual one, but seemed to have fallen as it were by chance
from Heaven, whereas it ought rather to have been called "the impost
of his wickedness," for it served as a pretext to those functionaries,
who were invested with high power, to plunder their subjects
incessantly without fear of punishment. They pretended that they had
to hand over the tribute to the Emperor, and they themselves, without
any difficulty, acquired sufficient sums to secure regal affluence for
themselves. Justinian allowed them to go on unchecked and unheeded,
waiting until they had amassed great wealth, when it was his practice
to bring against them some charge from which they could not readily
clear themselves, and to confiscate the whole of their property, as he
had treated John of Cappadocia. All those who held this office during
his reign became wealthy to an extraordinary degree, and suddenly,
with two exceptions. One of these was Phocas, of whom I have spoken in
my previous writings--a man in the highest degree observant of
integrity and honesty; who, during his tenure of office, was free from
all suspicion of illegal gain. The other was Bassus, who was appointed
later. Neither of them enjoyed their dignity for a year. At the end of
a few months they were deprived of it as being incapable and unsuited
to the times. But, not to go into details in every case, which would
be endless, I will merely say that it was the same with all the other
magistrates