Byzantium without letters of licence signed by the proper official, no ship being allowed to leave the city without the permission of the secretaries of the Master of Offices.  The amount which the praetor exacted from the shipmasters under the name of toll was so insignificant that it was disregarded.  A praetor was also sent to the other strait, who received his salary regularly from the Emperor, and whose duties were the same—­to take care that no one transported to the barbarians on the Euxine any wares, the export of which to hostile countries was forbidden; but he was not allowed to exact any duties from these navigators.  But, from the day that Justinian succeeded to the government of affairs, he established a custom-house on both straits, and sent thither two officials to collect the dues at a fixed salary, who were ordered to get in as much money as they could.  These officials, who desired nothing better than to show their devotion to him, extorted duty upon all kinds of merchandise.  In regard to the port of Byzantium, he made the following arrangement:—­He put it in charge of one of his confidants, a Syrian by birth, named Addeus, whom he ordered to exact duty from all vessels which put in there.  This Addeus would not allow those ships which had been any length of time in the harbour to leave it, until the masters had paid a sum of money to free them, or else he compelled them to take on board a freight for Libya or Italy.  Some, resolved not to take in a return cargo or to remain at sea any longer, burned their ships and thus escaped all anxiety, to their great rejoicing.  But all those who were obliged to continue their profession in order to live, for the future demanded three times the usual amount from merchants for the hire of the ships, and thus the merchants had no means of covering their losses except by requiring a higher price from purchasers; and thus, by every possible contrivance, the Romans were reduced to the danger of starvation.  Such was the general state of affairs.  I must not, however, omit to state the manner in which the rulers dealt with the small coinage.  The money-changers had formerly been accustomed to give 210 obols (called Pholes) for a single gold stater.  Justinian and Theodora, for their own private gain, ordered that only 180 obols should be given for the stater, and by this means deprived the public of a sixth part of each piece of gold.  Having established “monopolies” upon most wares, they incessantly harassed would-be purchasers.  The only thing left free from duty was clothes, but, in regard to these also, the imperial pair contrived to extort money.  Silken garments had for a long time been made in Berytus and Tyre, cities of Phoenicia.  The merchants and workmen connected with the trade had been settled there from very early times, and from thence the business had spread throughout the world.  During the reign of Justinian, those who lived in Byzantium and other cities raised the price of their silks, on the plea