into the hands of the Emperor. The local curiae being no longer permitted to deal with them, public works were neglected and the inhabitants ceased to be entertained by the popular spectacles.[1] A blight seemed to fall on the Empire, says the contemporary historian, and people had no resource but the discussion of present calamities and the expression of their fears for the future.[2] Related to this policy was the formal abolition of the Consulship with its attendant train of festivities which enlivened the opening of each year. During the space of a decade the office had only been filled in a desultory manner, but the last Consul was actually seen in 541, and soon afterwards that link between the Byzantines and the glories of the old Republic was severed by a definite Act.[3] To tamper with the currency has always been an inviting procedure with needy princes, and Justinian did not resist having recourse to this artifice. By giving a fictitious value to copper he managed to rake in the gold coinage at about five-sixths of its actual worth.[4] Such are the chief methods by which in this reign the revenue was inflated beyond its normal proportions, and, to complete the list, reference may be made to ill-advised
- ↑ Procopius, Anecd., 26.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid. The text of the decree has not come down to us, but Basilius was the last Consul, and subsequently official documents are dated as "An. I, II, etc., post Basil." Yet only five years before Justinian drew up elaborate rules for the observance of the consular season: Nov. cv. Beginning from Jan. 1, he apportioned to each day of the week its quantum of processions with scattered largess, horse races, hunts with dogs in the amphitheatre, boxing and wrestling, man and beast fights, and theatrical displays in which the loose feminine element predominated.
- ↑ Procopius, Anecd., 25. He enacted that only 180 pence (follis, about 5-4d.) should now be given for the solidus, instead of 210, as formerly. See p. 122.
