nexus of self-interest so tangled it defied full comprehension. The empire must be governed; those qualified to do so and who were incorruptible were too few for the tasks that required execution, all layered into a system: tax-collecting, provincial governance, judicial oversight and military commands.
Added to that there was a relentless campaign of vilification from those who felt threatened by moves to suborn their privileges, while neither Justinian nor Theodora were free from the taint of being borninto the wrong class by those who cared deeply for their bloodlines. Justinian’s father might have been a patrician but his mother came, like the Emperor Justin and thus his succeeding nephew, from a clan of what were held to be Illyrian peasants.
This was a charge often levelled at Flavius as well by the patricians among his officers, Constantinus included, though never publically. Thanks to Procopius and what he called his confidants it was no secret; there was little that happened or was said in the various villas occupied by his subordinates that the man in command did not know about.
The background of Theodora being even more dubious, it was the subject of endless salacious gossip and graffiti, which had the imperial palace as a hotbed of sexual infamy. This left the imperial couple more feared than loved, especially her because she was known to be capricious. In truth, Theodora was no innocent; she had been mistress to another man before she met and enthralled Justinian.
That coming together had taken place in one of the low taverns down by the capital’s docks where the future emperor felt so utterly at home, more so than he did in the homes of the wealthy. There, fathers were keen to present to him, as the nephew of a successful general close to the reigning emperor, their daughters, hypocrisy being no bar to patrician ambitions.
The Empress had been one of the exotic dancers who provided dissolute if enticing entertainment, and if some hinted that she had snared her spouse by sex or sorcery, then Flavius knew more than most what an enthusiastic article he had been, having himself visited these establishments in the company of his now emperor and been amused by his attraction to those of low birth and even lower morals.
Theodora had resented their close connection from the very first time Flavius had met her and that had only grown as she rose to her present eminence. It angered her that Justinian listened to Flavius, but even more the tone that the latter used to address a near divine rulerto whom he should have grovelled; how dare he suppose he had the right to tell his master what he saw as the truth!
The perception of Flavius Belisarius being seen as honest seemed to anger more than temper her animosity, a general who took care to see his soldiers properly fed and promptly paid, which was far from the norm. He had captured the fabulous and priceless treasure of the Vandals, accumulated over centuries of pillage across the whole of the old Western Roman Empire from the Rhine to the Pillars of Hercules in Hispania, yet he rewarded himself with no more than what was his rightful due.
If that was substantial and he was rich because of his military successes and the titles he held, such good fortune made him, to her twisted mind, more not less of a threat. If he succeeded in Italy what would Theodora think of him then? At least that took his mind off matters about which he could do nothing and brought it to those he could.
‘We need to find a way to diminish Witigis without waiting for him to mount another major attack on the walls.’
‘Does what I have composed for transmission to Constantinople meet with your approval?’
Flavius caught the slightly tetchy tone in his secretary’s voice, for he had been too busy mulling over extraneous matters to truly listen and the way it was phrased was of some importance. Every word would be examined for a hint of duplicity.
‘Would it trouble you to read it to
Added to that there was a relentless campaign of vilification from those who felt threatened by moves to suborn their privileges, while neither Justinian nor Theodora were free from the taint of being borninto the wrong class by those who cared deeply for their bloodlines. Justinian’s father might have been a patrician but his mother came, like the Emperor Justin and thus his succeeding nephew, from a clan of what were held to be Illyrian peasants.
This was a charge often levelled at Flavius as well by the patricians among his officers, Constantinus included, though never publically. Thanks to Procopius and what he called his confidants it was no secret; there was little that happened or was said in the various villas occupied by his subordinates that the man in command did not know about.
The background of Theodora being even more dubious, it was the subject of endless salacious gossip and graffiti, which had the imperial palace as a hotbed of sexual infamy. This left the imperial couple more feared than loved, especially her because she was known to be capricious. In truth, Theodora was no innocent; she had been mistress to another man before she met and enthralled Justinian.
That coming together had taken place in one of the low taverns down by the capital’s docks where the future emperor felt so utterly at home, more so than he did in the homes of the wealthy. There, fathers were keen to present to him, as the nephew of a successful general close to the reigning emperor, their daughters, hypocrisy being no bar to patrician ambitions.
The Empress had been one of the exotic dancers who provided dissolute if enticing entertainment, and if some hinted that she had snared her spouse by sex or sorcery, then Flavius knew more than most what an enthusiastic article he had been, having himself visited these establishments in the company of his now emperor and been amused by his attraction to those of low birth and even lower morals.
Theodora had resented their close connection from the very first time Flavius had met her and that had only grown as she rose to her present eminence. It angered her that Justinian listened to Flavius, but even more the tone that the latter used to address a near divine rulerto whom he should have grovelled; how dare he suppose he had the right to tell his master what he saw as the truth!
The perception of Flavius Belisarius being seen as honest seemed to anger more than temper her animosity, a general who took care to see his soldiers properly fed and promptly paid, which was far from the norm. He had captured the fabulous and priceless treasure of the Vandals, accumulated over centuries of pillage across the whole of the old Western Roman Empire from the Rhine to the Pillars of Hercules in Hispania, yet he rewarded himself with no more than what was his rightful due.
If that was substantial and he was rich because of his military successes and the titles he held, such good fortune made him, to her twisted mind, more not less of a threat. If he succeeded in Italy what would Theodora think of him then? At least that took his mind off matters about which he could do nothing and brought it to those he could.
‘We need to find a way to diminish Witigis without waiting for him to mount another major attack on the walls.’
‘Does what I have composed for transmission to Constantinople meet with your approval?’
Flavius caught the slightly tetchy tone in his secretary’s voice, for he had been too busy mulling over extraneous matters to truly listen and the way it was phrased was of some importance. Every word would be examined for a hint of duplicity.
‘Would it trouble you to read it to
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