Page:Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian 1674.djvu/110

 he began to cast his eyes upon the riches of par­ticular persons: He ruined several wealthy per­sons both in Constantinople, and other places, charging them with crimes, of which they were not guilty: Some he accused of Idolatry, others of Heresie, others of Sodomy; some of having ravished the Nuns, some of Incest, some of Se­dition, some of inclination to the Prasinians; and some of High Treason: So that by his forged wills, and his pretended gifts, he made himself heir, as well to the living as dead. I have told before, how he made use of Victoriatus, to put himself into possession of the Lands be­longing to the Senate, which in his Reign hap­ned to be Seditious; and how he acted (be­fore their Sedition brake out) to hedge in, and unite to his Revenue, the Estates of particular Men: But it is not to be admired, if it be con­sidered, That by his continual presents he in­riched all the Barbarians in all the quarters of the World, East, West, North, and South, as far as Great Britain, and other remoter places, of whom, we never had heard any thing, and saw their Ambassadors at Constantinople, before we knew of what Countrey to call them. These people when they once found Justinian so liberal, they came to visit him at Constantinople from all parts of the World; and he (good Man) much pleased at what ought to have troubled him, overjoyed to see them in his Court, as a thing of mighty importance to him, drained the Treasure of the Empire, and distributed among them what was remaining of his Buildings ­wards