till the same concerning it. Trusting to this,
John ordered Liberius to quit the governor's palace, as having been
deprived of his office. Liberius refused, placing equal reliance in
the Emperor's despatch. John, having armed his followers, marched
against Liberius, who defended himself with his guards. An engagement
took place, in which several were slain, and amongst them John, the
new governor.

At the earnest entreaty of Eudaemon, Liberius was immediately summoned
to Byzantium. The matter was investigated before the senate, and
Liberius was acquitted, as being only guilty of justifiable homicide
in self-defence. Justinian, however, did not let him escape, until he
had forced him to give him a considerable sum of money privately. Such
was the great respect Justinian showed for the truth, and such was the
faithfulness with which he kept his promises. I will here permit
myself a brief digression, which may not be irrelevant. This Eudaemon
died shortly afterwards, leaving behind him a large number of
relatives, but no will, either written or verbal. About the same time,
the chief eunuch of the court, named Euphratas, also died intestate;
he left behind him a nephew, who would naturally have succeeded to his
property, which was considerable. The Emperor took possession of both
fortunes, appointing himself sole heir, not even leaving so much as a
three-obol piece to the legal inheritors. Such was the respect
Justinian showed for the laws and the kinsmen of his intimate friends.
In the same manner, without having the least claim to it, he seized
the fortune of Irenaeus, who had died some time before.

Another event which took place about this time I cannot omit. There
lived at Ascalon a man named Anatolius, the most distinguished member
of the senate. His daughter, his only child and heiress, was married
to a citizen of Caesarea, named Mamilianus, a man of distinguished
family. There was an ancient statute which provided that, whenever a
senator died without male issue, the fourth part of his estate should
go to the senate of the town, and the rest to the heirs-at-law. On
this occasion Justinian gave a striking proof of his character. He had
recently made a law which reversed this,--that, when a senator died
without male issue, the fourth part only should go to the heirs, the
three other parts being divided between the senate and the public
treasury, although it had never happened before that the estate of any
senator ha