Page:Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian 1674.djvu/48

 parties were beloved or hated by the factions; for it was as much as the Judges life was worth, to reject the orders of the Venetes, or neglect to obey them. Several Creditors were forced to deliver up their Securities to their Debtors, and lose all that they had lent them. Others were forced to manumit their slaves, young Gentle­men of the best Families of the City being of the factions, forced Moneys from their own Parents, and constrained several Women to submit to the brutish appetites of their slaves. Children even in sight of their Parents, were forced to suffer the effects of the brutality of the seditious, and married Women were no more exempted then they. It was reported, that some of these factions having met a Wo­man in no extraordinary habit, who was cross­ing the Water with her Husband in little Boat, to go into the Suburbs on the other side, they forced her out of the arms of her Husband into their Boat. The Woman whispered her Hus­band in the ear, and advised him not to be con­cerned, or fear that she would do any thing un­worthy of her, for she was resolved not to per­mit any thing that might have reflexion upon his honor; and a while after, as he was com­plaining to himself, and following her with tears in his eyes, she threw her self over board, and was drowned.

The violences used by the seditious in Con­stantinople, did not so much exasperate the spirits of the people, as what Justinian himself did against the State; for the sorrows of the ed