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527-565] by the privileges that the imperial benevolence granted to the church of Ravenna, since that town was the capital of reconquered Italy. By paying this price, by cruelly wounding the Catholic West, and recalling the Monophysites, Justinian hoped until his dying day that he had obtained the results which were the aim of his religious policy, and had restored peace to the East. 46 Anxious," wrote John of Ephesus, "to carry out the wishes of his dead wife in every detail," he increased the number of conferences and discussions after 548, in order to reconcile the Monophysites: while he had such a great wish to find some common ground with them that to satisfy them he slipped into heresy on the eve of his death. In an edict of 565 he declared his adherence to the doctrine of the Incorrupticolae, the most extreme of all the heretics, and as usual he used force against the prelates who made any resistance. Thus until the end of his life Justinian had consistently endeavoured to impose his will upon the Church, and to break down all opposition. Until the end of his life also he had sought to realise the ideal of unity which inspired and dominated the whole of his religious policy. But nothing came of his efforts; the Monophysites were never satisfied with the concessions made to them, and upon the whole this great theological undertaking, this display of rigour and arbitrariness, produced no results at all or results of a deplorable nature.

IV.

It remains to be seen what were the consequences of Justinian's government in the East, and what price he paid, specially during the last years of his reign, for this policy of great aims and mediocre or unskilful measures.

A secret defect existed in all Justinian's undertakings, which destroyed the sovereign's most magnificent projects, and ruined his best intentions. This was the disproportion between the end in view and the financial resources available to realise it. Enormous, in fact inexhaustible supplies were needed, for the drain on them was immense; to satisfy the needs of a truly imperial policy, to meet the cost of wars of conquest, to pay the troops, and for the construction of fortresses; to maintain the luxury of the Court and the expense of buildings, to support a complicated administration and to dispense large subsidies to the barbarians. When he ascended the throne Justinian had found in the treasury the sum of 320,000 pounds of gold, more than £14,400,000 sterling, which had been accumulated by the prudent economy of Anastasius. This reserve fund was exhausted in a few years, and henceforth for the rest of his long reign, the Emperor suffered from the worst of miseries, the lack of money. Without money the wars which had been entered upon with insufficient means dragged on interminably. Without money the