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chap. XL] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 255 mission, or at least with the connivance, of Justinian and Theo- dora. The claims of merit, even those of favour, were disre- garded, and it was almost reasonable to expect that the bold adventurer who had undertaken the trade of a magistrate should find a rich compensation for infamy, labour, danger, the debts which he had contracted, and the heavy interest which he paid. A sense of the disgrace and mischief of this venal practice at length awakened the slumbering virtue of Justinian; and he attempted, by the sanction of oaths 89 and penalties, to guard the integrity of his government ; but at the end of a year of perjury his rigorous edict was suspended, and corruption licenti- ously abused her triumph over the impotence of the laws. VI. Testa- The testament of Eulalius, count of the domestics, declared the emperor his sole heir, on condition, however, that he should dis- charge his debts and legacies, allow to his three daughters a decent maintenance, and bestow each of them in marriage, with a portion of ten pounds of gold. But the splendid fortune of Eulalius had been consumed by fire ; and the inventory of his goods did not exceed the trifling sum of five hundred and sixty- four pieces in gold. A similar instance in Grecian history ad- monished the emperor of the honourable part prescribed for his imitation. He checked the selfish murmurs of the treasury, applauded the confidence of his friend, discharged the legacies and debts, educated the three virgins under the eye of the empress Theodora, and doubled the marriage portion which had satisfied the tenderness of their father. 90 The humanity of a prince (for princes cannot be generous) is entitled to some praise ; yet even in this act of virtue we may discover the in- veterate custom of supplanting the legal or natural heirs, which Procopius imputes to the reign of Justinian. His charge is supported by eminent names and scandalous examples ; neither widows nor orphans were spared ; and the art of soliciting, or extorting, or supposing, testaments was beneficially practised by the agents of the palace. This base and mischievous tyranny 89 The oath is conceived in the most formidable words (Novell, viii. tit. 3). The defaulters imprecate on themselves, quicquid habent telorum armamentaria caeli : the part of Judas, the leprosy of Giezi, the tremor of Cain, &c. besides all temporal pains. 90 A similar or more generous act of friendship is related by Lucian of Eudami- das of Corinth (in Toxare, c. 22, 23, torn. ii. p. 530), and the story has produced an ingenious, though feeble, comedy of Fontenelle.