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The internal policy of Justinian
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Page 9
The Emperor hoped that his numerous hasty decrees had corrected all internal shortcomings of the administration and given the empire, through his brilliant undertakings, a new period of bloom. He was mistaken. All his decrees could not change mankind. It is very evident from later novels that rebellions, extortion, and ruin continued. It became necessary to republish constantly imperial decrees to remind the population of their existence, and in some provinces it was occasionally necessary to proclaim martial law.
At times, when the need for money was very urgent, Justinian used the very measures which were prohibited in his decrees. He sold offices at high prices and, regardless of his promise to the contrary, introduced new taxes, though his Novels show clearly that he was fully aware of the incapacity of the population to meet them. Under the pressure of financial difficulties he resorted to the corruption of money and issued debased coin; but the attitude of the populace became so threatening that he was forced almost immediately to revoke his measure. All possible means were used to fill the government treasury, the fisc, which took the place of a stomach feeding all parts of the body, as Corippus, a poet of the sixth century, puts it. The strict measures which accompanied the collection of taxes reached their extreme limits and had a disastrous effect upon the exhausted population. One contemporary says that a foreign invasion seemed less formidable to the taxpayers than the arrival of the officials of the fisc. Villages became impoverished and deserted because their inhabitants fled from government oppression. The productivity of the land was reduced to nothing. Revolts sprang up in various localities.
A History of the Byzantine Empire - Table of Contents
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Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/internal-policy-justinian.asp?pg=9
