Page:Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian 1674.djvu/109

 was the Man of all the Emperors, the most pro­vident, and the most proper for the Conduct, either of a State, or a private family. This Anastatius apprehending (as it hapned after­wards) that his Successor finding little Moneys in his Treasury, would squeeze and molest his subjects to supply himself; therefore he left his Exchequer very well provided, both with Silver and Gold. But Justinian exhausted it in a short time, imploying part of it in impertinent Build­ings, which he erected unnecessarily to keep out the Sea, and part in extravagant presents to the Barbarians. Which Treasure the most debauched and profligate Emperor would have been much troubled to dissipate, though his profuseness had continued a hundred years to­gether: For the Treasurers who had the charge of the Publick Stock, under the Emperor Ana­statius affirmed, That in the space of Twenty seven years, which was the time of his Reign, he had saved by his frugality Three hundred and twenty thousand Livres of Gold, which Justi­nian consumed in the days of his Uncle, as I have hinted elswhere: Besides which, it is in­credible what vast quantities he extorted from his subjects, during his Reign, by most horri­ble oppression, forcing the whole riches of the Empire into his own Chests by all imaginable ways, and all the cruelties that could be invent­ed. So that it might be said, he was a great Gulf that swallowed up all the wealth of his subjects, to disgorge it among the Barbarians. After he had spent the Treasures of the State, Rh