The Secret History: A Novel Of Empress Theodora - Plot & Excerpts
“He’s stealing from you.” I stood before Justinian, arms akimbo as I prepared to do battle against his finance minister. It was long past midnight, but we were both still working. An army of flickering oil lamps lit Justinian’s offices, so many that slaves had already had to refill them several times. Justinian sighed. “John is pivotal to the success of my restoration of the Empire.” “You’re not going to have an Empire to restore if you don’t curb his excesses.” In order to save more money for our foreign wars, the Cappadocian had cut the government subsidies for the imperial post, crucial to the farmers who relied on the public transportation for their crops and were now forced to carry them on their backs to Constantinople’s markets, some from as far as Chalcedon. There were reports of unburied dead on the road, and many farmers refused to return to their fields, hoping for salvation in the city. Food was getting scarce. It wasn’t only the plebs who despised the Cappadocian—the patricians were livid at the new tax rates that threatened to bleed them dry.
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