The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY: BOOK III 185
possible for any of his successors to revive again the old disgraces, he
pretended to be annoyed and accused himself of thoughtlessness and
the utmost folly: he said that by giving preference to innovation he had
disregarded what was bene¢cial to the state, and had heedlessly and
inconsiderately suspended such a great revenue, one which had been
devised long before and been rati¢ed by such long passage of time, [138]
without taking into account the imminent dangers or the military
expenses, the living wall of the state, nor the expenses relating to the
worship of God. And without displaying any of his inner thoughts he
announced that he wished the aforesaid tax to be restored. 147 Then,
after summoning those who had been in charge, he claimed that he
repented but he did not have any idea what to do or how he might
correct his own mistake, since the papers which were able to explain the
collection had been burnt once and for all. And when they bewailed the
action, without any pretence but genuinely on account of the illegal
pro¢t which accrued to them from it, 148 and professed to be at a similar
loss, he encouraged and urged them to make every investigation and
search out if they could discover the collection in its entirety from the
records that were gathered in each particular place. And after providing
expenses for each man for assembling these he sent them out with
instructions that every paper which could illuminate this, wherever it
might be found, should be conveyed to him so that the material relating
to this might again be compiled with the most careful consideration and
the utmost precision. 149
And so when after a time those who were attending to this came back,
Anastasius appeared to be a happy person and gladdened with delight;
but he was genuinely pleased because he had achieved his objective, and
he enquired about the process, how they had been found, and with
147 Although piety may have played some part in Anastasius’ motives, or at least in his
presentation of these, this reform must be seen in the wider context of Anastasius’ overhaul
of taxation and currency reforms, of which the ¢rst stage, involving the copper coinage, was
introduced in 498. Anastasius appears to have been keen to remove obstacles, such as the
tax on commerce and a shortage of lower value coins, which were hindering the development
of £ourishing market conditions.
148 Undoubtedly o⁄cials from the sacrae largitiones would have regretted the loss of an
important source of revenue.
149 Anastasius had ¢rst burnt the central records in the o⁄ce of the sacrae largitiones,
and then proceeded to assemble the various records of payers and amounts maintained in
each city (see n. 146 above). For his thoroughness in destroying the records, cf. also Procopius
of Gaza, Panegyric 13, and Priscian, Laude Anastasii 164^6.