He imposed a perpetual and most severe tax upon bread, which the
artisans, the poor, and infirm were compelled to purchase. He demanded
from this commodity a revenue of three centenars of gold every year,
and those poor wretches were obliged to support themselves upon bread
full of dust, for the Emperor did not blush to carry his avarice to
this extent. Seizing upon this as an excuse, the superintendents of
the markets, eager to fill their own pockets, in a short time acquired
great wealth, and, in spite of the cheapness of food, reduced the poor
to a state of artificial and unexpected famine; for they were not
allowed to import corn from any other parts, but were obliged to eat
bread purchased in the city.

One of the city aqueducts had broken, and a considerable portion of
the water destined for the use of the inhabitants was lost. Justinian,
however, took no notice of it, being unwilling to incur any expense
for repairs, although a great crowd continually thronged round the
fountains, and all the baths had been shut. Nevertheless, he expended
vast sums without any reason or sense upon buildings on the seashore,
and also built everywhere throughout the suburbs, as if the palaces,
in which their predecessors had always been content to live, were no
longer suitable for himself and Theodora; so that it was not merely
parsimony, but a desire for the destruction of human life, that
prevented him from repairing the aqueduct, for no one, from most
ancient times, had ever shown himself more eager than Justinian to
amass wealth, and at the same time to spend it in a most wasteful and
extravagant manner. Thus this Emperor struck at the poorest and most
miserable of his subjects through two most necessary articles of
food--bread and water, by making the one difficult to procure, and the
other too dear for them to buy.