that at the present time they were dearer in Persia, and that the import tithes were higher.  The Emperor pretended to be exceedingly indignant at this, and subsequently published an edict forbidding a pound of silk to be sold for more than eight gold pieces; anyone who disobeyed the edict was to be punished by the confiscation of his property.  This measure appeared altogether impracticable and absurd.  For it was not possible for the merchants, who had bought their wares at a much higher price, to sell it to customers at a lower rate.  They accordingly resolved to give up this business, and secretly and without delay disposed of their remaining wares to certain well-known persons, who took delight in wasting their money upon such adornments, and to whom it had become in a manner an absolute necessity.  Theodora heard of this from certain persons who whispered it confidentially, and, without taking the trouble to verify the report, she immediately deprived these persons of their wares, and, in addition, inflicted upon them a fine of a centenar of gold.  At the present time, the imperial treasurer is charged with the superintendence of this trade.  When Peter Barsyames held the office, they soon allowed him all manner of licence in carrying out his nefarious practices.  He demanded that all the rest should carefully observe the law, and compelled those who were engaged in the silk factories to work for himself alone.  Without taking any trouble to conceal it, he sold an ounce of any ordinary coloured silk in the public market-place for six pieces of gold, but if it was of the royal dye, called Holovere, he asked more than four-and-twenty for it.  In this manner he procured vast sums of money for the Emperor, and even larger sums, which he kept privately for himself; and this practice, begun by him, continued.  The grand treasurer is at this moment avowedly the only silk merchant and sole controller of the market.  All those who formerly carried on this business, either in Byzantium or any other city, workers on sea or land, felt the loss severely.  Nearly the whole population of the cities which existed by such manufactories were reduced to begging.  Artisans and mechanics were forced to struggle against hunger, and many of them, quitting their country, fled to Persia.  None but the chief treasurer was allowed to have anything to do with that branch of industry, and, while he handed over part of his gains to the Emperor, he kept the greater part for himself, and thus grew wealthy at the expense of the unfortunate public.

CHAPTER XXVI