The Emperor hoped that by means of his numerous hasty decrees he corrected all internal shortcomings of the administration, and, in his own words, "gave the empire, through his brilliant undertakings, a new period of bloom."58 Reality deceived his hopes, for his large number of decrees could not change mankind. It is very evident from later Novels that rebellions, extortion, and ruin continued. It became necessary to republish imperial decrees constantly and to remind the population of their existence. At times, in some provinces, martial law had to be proclaimed.

In some cases, when the need for money was very urgent, Justinian used the very measures which were prohibited in his decrees. He sold offices for large remunerations 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 these tax obligations. 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,"59 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."60 Villages became impoverished and deserted because their inhabitants were fleeing from government oppression. The productivity of the land was reduced to nil. Revolts sprang up in various localities.

Realizing that the Empire was ruined and that economy was the only means of saving it, Justinian resorted to economy in provinces most dangerous for the Empire. He reduced the army in numbers, and frequently kept back its pay. But the army, consisting mainly of mercenaries, often revolted against the practice of withholding salaries, and took vengeance on the unprotected population. The reduction of the army had also other serious consequences: it left the border lines unprotected and the barbarians crossed the Byzantine boundaries freely to carry on their devastat58 Novella, 33 (54), Introduction (ed. Zach. von Lingenthal, I, 360).

50 Corippi, In lauden Justini, II, 249-50.

60 Joannis Lydi, De Magistratibus, III, 70 (Bonn., p. 264; ed. R. Wuensch, p. 162).

ing raids. The fortresses constructed by Justinian were not cared for. Unable to oppose the barbarians by force, Justinian had to ransom himself, and that involved very large new expenditures. According to the French scholar, Diehl, an enchanted circle was formed. The lack of money forced a decrease of the army; yet in the absence of soldiers it was necessary to find more money to pay to the aggressive enemies."1

If we add to all this the frequent famines, epidemics, and earthquakes which ruined the population and increased the demands for government aid, then we can picture the lamentable state of the Empire at the end of Justinian's reign. This gloomy picture is reflected in the first Novel of Justin II, where he speaks of "the government treasury overburdened with many debts and reduced to extreme poverty," and of "an army so desperately in need of all necessaries that the empire was easily and frequently attacked and raided by the barbarians."62

Justinian's attempts in the field of administrative reforms were a complete failure. Financially, the Empire stood on the verge of ruin. In this regard we must not lose sight of the close connection between the internal and external policies of the Emperor. His sweeping military undertakings in the West, which demanded colossal means, ruined the East and left for his successors a very entangled and troublesome heritage. As evidenced by the early Novels, Justinian sincerely intended to bring order into the life of the Empire and raise the moral level of the government institutions; but these noble intentions could not become living realities because they came into collision with the military plans dictated by his conception of his duties as an heir of the Roman Caesars.

Commerce during the Reign of Justinian. Cosmas Indicopleustes. Fortifications.-The period of Justinian left very distinct traces in the history of Byzantine commerce. In the Christian period, as in the days of the pagan Roman Empire, the main trade was carried on with the East. The rarest and most valuable articles of trade arrived from the distant lands of China and India. Western Europe of the earlier Middle Ages, in the period of the formation

61 Diehl, Justinien, p. 311.

62 Zach. von Lingenthal, Jus Graeco-romanum, III, 3.

of new Germanic states, some of which were conquered by Justinian's generals, lived under conditions extremely unfavorable for the development of its own economic life. The Eastern Roman Empire, with its advantageously situated capital (Constantinople) became, by force of circumstances, the mediator between the West and the East, and kept this position until the period of the Crusades.

But the commercial relations of the Byzantine Empire with the peoples of the Far East were not direct; the mediating agent here was the Persian Empire of the Sassanids, which gained enormous profits on the commercial transactions of the Byzantine merchants. There were at this time two main trade routes: one by land, the other by sea. The overland caravan route led from the western borders of China through Sogdiana (now Bokhara or Bukhara) to the Persian border, where the wares were transferred by Chinese merchants to the Persians, and the latter were charged to transport these wares farther to the custom houses on the Byzantine border. The sea route used was as follows: Chinese merchants transported their wares on vessels as far as the island of Taprobane (now Ceylon), south of the peninsula of Hindostan. There Chinese goods were reloaded, chiefly into Persian vessels, which carried their cargo by way of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates, whence they were forwarded along the Euphrates to the Byzantine custom house situated on this river. We readily see, then, that Byzantine commerce with the East depended very closely upon the relations between the Empire and Persia, and since wars with Persia were a regular occurrence in Byzantine life, the trade relations with the East suffered constant interruptions and great harm. The main article of trade was Chinese silk, the production of which was guarded in deep secrecy by China. In view of the difficulties involved in the production of silk, its prices and the prices of silk stuffs greatly in demand on Byzantine markets rose at times to unbelievable figures. Besides Chinese silk, China and India exported to the West perfumes, spices, cotton, precious stones, and other articles demanded primarily in the Byzantine Empire.

Unwilling to become reconciled to the economic dependence of the Byzantine Empire upon Persia, Justinian set himself the goal of

finding a trade route to China and India which would lie outside of the realm of Persian influence.

It was during this period that a remarkable literary work made its appearance. It was extremely valuable for the information it contained about the geography of the basins of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, as well as about the commercial relations with India and China. We are referring here to the Christian Topography or Cosmography written by Cosmas Indicopleustes3 in the middle of the sixth century.

Born in Egypt (very likely in Alexandria), Cosmas was engaged in commerce from his early youth, but discontented with the trade conditions in his country, he undertook a number of distant journeys during which he visited the shores of the Red Sea, the Sinaitic peninsula, Ethiopia (Abyssinia), and perhaps reached as far as Ceylon. He was a Christian of the Nestorian faith, and in his later life became a monk. His Greek surname, Indicopleustes, is found even in very old versions of his work.

We are not so much concerned here with the fundamental aim of The Christian Topography, which is to prove to the Christians that, regardless of the system of Ptolemy, the earth does not have the shape of a globe, but rather that of an oblong rectangular box similar to the sanctuary in the tabernacle of Moses, while the entire universe is analogous in form to the general form of the tabernacle. The great historical importance of this work, as we said, lies in the information about the geography and commerce of that time recorded by Cosmas. The author conscientiously informs his reader about the sources used and evaluates each of them thoroughly. He discriminates his own observations as an eye-witness from the information obtained from eye-witnesses and from facts learned by hearsay. From his own experience he describes the palace of the Abyssinian king in the city of Axum (in the so-called Kingdom of Axum), gives an accurate account of several interesting inscriptions in Nubia and on the shores of the Red Sea. He tells us also of Indian and African animals, and (most important of all) gives the

63 Indicopleustes means "sailor to India," or "sailor of the Indian Sea." This work was translated into English by J. MacCrindle, The Christian Topography of Cosmas, an Egyptian Monk (London, 1897), issued by the Hakluyt Society, Vol. XCVIII.

most valuable information about the island Taprobane (Ceylon), explaining its commercial importance during the early Middle Ages. It appears from this account that in the sixth century Ceylon was the center of world-commerce between China on one hand and Eastern Africa, Persia, and through Persia the Byzantine Empire, on the other hand. In Cosmas' words, "the island, being as it is in a central position, is much frequented by ships from all parts of India and from Persia and Ethiopia." The Persian Christians who remained permanently on this island were of the Nestorian faith and had their own church and clergy.

It is interesting to note that in spite of an almost complete absence of instances of direct trade relations between the Byzantine Empire and India, Byzantine coins from the epoch of Constantine the Great appear in Indian markets, carried there apparently, not by Byzantine merchants, but by the mediating Persians and Abyssinians (Axumites). Coins with the names of the Byzantine emperors of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries have been found in Southern and Western India.64a In the international economic life of the sixth century the Byzantine Empire played a rôle so important that, according to Cosmas, "all the nations carry on their trade in Roman money (the Byzantine gold coin, nomisma or solidus), from one extremity of the earth to the other. This money is regarded with admiration by all men to whatever kingdom they belong, since there is no other country in which the like of it exists."'65

Cosmas tells a very interesting story which shows the profound respect commanded in India by the Byzantine gold coin (nomisma). The story runs as follows:

The King of Ceylon, having admitted a Byzantine merchant, Sopatrus, and some Persians to an audience and having received their salutations, requested them to be seated. He then asked them: "In what state are your countries, and how go things with them?” To this they replied: "They go well." Afterward, as the conversa

64 Cosmas, Topographia christiana, lib. XI; Migne, Patr. gr., 88, col. 445; ed. Winstedt (Cambridge, 1909), p. 322; MacCrindle, p. 365.

64a See Sewell, "Roman Coins in India," Journal of Asiatic Society, XXXVI (1904),

620-21.

es Cosmas, op. cit., lib. II; Migne, col. 116; ed. Winstedt, p. 81; MacCrindle, p. 73.