THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN DID NOT sleep. So concerned was he for the welfare of his empire, so unremitting was the tide of business, so deep was his need for control that there simply was not time for rest. All this he explained to his subjects in the laws that poured forth constantly from his government — as many as five in a single day, long, complex, and involved texts in which the emperor took a close personal interest.
The pace of work for those who served Justinian must have been punishing and it is perhaps unsurprising that he found few admirers amongst his civil servants. They traded dark hints about the hidden wellsprings of the emperor’s energy. One who had been with him
