Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/136

 *cessors, while the same futile prohibitions continued to issue periodically from the mouth of the Emperor, secluded in his distant Court. Before the lapse of a twelvemonth Justinian resigned himself to ignoring his own self-denying ordinance, and a candidate for office was noted only in relation to his ability to pay at the moment, and the magnitude of his promises for the future. His repeated denunciations of the venality of his vicegerents represented no more than his formal recognition of the lamentations which continually reached his tribunal, or his exasperation at a prospective loss of revenue from the flagrant excesses of some reckless extortioner. He was also extremely parsimonious in remitting*