Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/181

 appears, was felt to be a most oppressive tax. Doubtless the demand was large in proportion to the lapse of time since the last exaction, and weighed upon those taxed, like a sudden claim for accumulated arrears. When the time for payment arrived, a wail went up from all the small traders whose traffic barely sufficed to keep them in the necessaries of life. To procure the money, parents frequently, it is said, had to sell their sons into servitude and their daughters for prostitution. There were limited exemptions in favour of ministers of the orthodox faith and retired veterans, who might engage in petty trade; of artists selling their own works; and of farmers who sold only their own produce. The most popular and, perhaps, the boldest measure of Anastasius, was the abrogation of this tax. Fortifying himself with the acquies-*