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 He was gifted with a remarkable suavity of manner, and was so artful a flatterer that, although he had not become a convert to Christianity, and was even said to be an atheist, Justinian deferred to him as his favourite minister. Tribonian, however, was beset by the vice of avarice, and, though his forensic erudition was invaluable to the Imperial council in relation to the subject, he resorted to it for no other purpose than to make a traffic of justice. His legal decisions were always at auction, and, under ordinary circumstances, his interpretation of the law was fitted ingeniously to meet the requirements of the highest bidder.

The approach to the Imperial tribunal had to be sown with gold before a suitor could advance within sight of an adjudication on his appeal. To pass the sentries who were on guard at the portals necessitated the disbursement of a tangible sum. Then the attention of the referendary, or attorney who put the case into shape prior to its being submitted to the court, could not be captured until he had been largely bribed. Lastly, the Quaestor had to be satisfied pecuniarily in a ratio adequate to his assessment of the value to the claimant of a favourable decision. Justinian was initiated early in the artifices by which legal chicanery could be made to subserve to undue gains, and became a prime sharer in the profits to be drawn from this