Read "The Secret History" by Procopius online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
How he ruined the beauty and appearance of Constantinople and every other city, we shall now see.
First he determined to debase the standing of the lawyers. He deprived them of all court fees, by which they had formerly lived in comfort and elegance; and in consequence they lost caste and significance. And after he had confiscated the estates of the Senators and other prosperous people, as has been related, in Constantinople and all over the Roman Empire, there was little use for lawyers anyway; men no longer had anything worth mentioning to go to court about. So of all the many noted advocates, only a few were left; and they were despised and reduced to penury, reaping nothing but insult from their work.