Trolling and shouting match between emperor Justinian and his subjects

[Petr]

I came upon this extraordinary exchange, which was the fuse that lit the bloody Nika riots (that ended with tens of thousands of dead people and a large part of Constantinople burned up), in Thomas Hodgkin's multi-volume magnum opus Italy and her Invaders, written in the late Victorian era.

We can observe that the dispute starts to turn nasty when the emperor and the people begin to Jew-call each other...

Italy and Her Invaders • Book IV Chapter 14

The complete 8‑volume work by Thomas Hodgkin is onsite. Part of a very large site on Italy and Greco-Roman Antiquity.

penelope.uchicago.edu

It was evident, soon after his accession, that the husband of Theodora meant to favour the Blue party, and in a few years, a long list of grievances was recorded in the hearts of the opposite faction against him. Such was the state of feeling in the multitude — the Blues jubilant with imperial favour, the Greens sore at heart and indignant against their oppressor, a multitude of the country-folk, having not as yet taken sides definitely with either colour, but remembering and cursing the tyrannical acts which had driven them from their immemorial homes — when on the morning of the Ides of January, 532,23 the august Emperor took his seat in the podium and commanded the races to begin. Race after race, till two races had been run, was disturbed by the clamours of the angry Green faction. Their fury was chiefly directed against the Grand Chamberlain and Captain of the Guard, Calopodius,24 to whom they attributed their ill‑treatment. At length Justinian, worried out of his usual self-control, began to argue with the interrupters; and so the following extraordinary debate took place, in shrill shouts to and from the Imperial podium.25

Dialogue between the Emperor and the Green party.

The Green party. 'Many years mayest thou live, Justinianus Augustus. Tu vincas.26 O only good one, I am oppressed. God knows it, but I dare not mention the oppressor's name lest I suffer for it.'​

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The Emperor's answer to the people came back from the lips of a stalwart Mandator who stood beside his throne, while a busy short-hand writer (Exceptor) at once began to take down all the words of this strange dialogue, that they might be enrolled in the official Acta of the Empire.​

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Mandator. 'Whom you mean, I know not.'​

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The Greens. 'O thrice August one, he who oppresses me will be found at the shoemakers' shops.'28​

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Mandator. 'I know not whom you are speaking of.'​

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The Greens. 'Calopodius the Guardsman oppresses me, O Lord of all.'​

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Mandator. 'Calopodius has no public charge.'​

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The Greens. 'Whatever he may be, he will suffer the fate of Judas. God will reward him according to his works.'​

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Mandator. 'Did you come hitherto to see the games or only to rail at your rulers?'​

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The Greens. 'If any one oppresses me, I hope he will die like Judas.'​

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Mandator. 'Hold your peace, ye Jews,29 ye Manicheans, ye Samaritans.'​

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29 A play on the words. The Greens hope that Justinian may die like Judas. He thereupon calls them Judaei.​

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The Greens. 'Do you call us Jews and Samaritans? We all invoke the Virgin, the Mother of God.'​

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Some sentences of scarcely intelligible religious abuse between the two parties to the dialogue follow. Then says the Mandator — 'In truth, if you are not quiet I will cut off your heads.'​

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The Greens. 'Be not enraged at the cry of the afflicted. God himself bears all patiently. [How can I appeal to you in your palace?] I cannot venture thither, scarcely even into the city except by one street when I am riding on my mule.'30​

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Mandator. 'Every one can move freely about in this city, without danger.'​

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The Greens. 'You talk of freedom, but I do not find that I can get it. Let a man be ever so free, he is suspected of being a Green, he its taken and beaten in public.'​

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Mandator. 'Gallows-bird! have you no care for your own lives, that you thus speak?'​

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The Greens. 'Take off that colour [the emblem of the Blues] and do not let justice seem to take sides.31 . . . I wish Sabbatius [the father of Justinian] had never been born. Then would he never have begotten a murderous son. This is the sixth murder32 apparently that has happened at the Yoking-place.33 In the morning he was looking on at the games, and in the evening twilight, O Lord of all, he had his throat cut.'​

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The Blues here interposed with angry denial. 'All the murders on the race-course have been committed by you alone.'​

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The Greens. 'When you murder you run away.'34​

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The Blues. 'You murder and throw everything into confusion. All the murders on the race-course are your work alone.'​

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The Greens. 'Lord Justinian! They stir us up to strife, but no one kills them. Remember, even if you do not wish to do so, who slew the wood-seller at the Yoking-place, O Emperor!'​

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Mandator. 'You slew him.'​

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The Greens. 'Who slew the son of Epagathus, O Emperor?'​

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Mandator. 'Him too you slew, and then tried to throw the blame on the Blues.'​

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The Greens. 'Again! and again! Lord have mercy on us! Truth is trodden under foot by a tyrant. I should like to throw these things in the teeth of those who say that God governs the world. Whence then this villainy?'​

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Mandator. 'God cannot be tempted with evil.'​

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The Greens. '"God cannot be tempted with evil." Then who is it that allows me to be oppressed? Let any one, whether Philosopher or Hermit, read me this riddle.'​

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Mandator. 'Blasphemers and accursed ones! when will ye be quiet?'​

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The Greens. 'If your Majesty will fawn upon that party,35 I hold my peace, though unwillingly. O Thrice August one, I know all, all: but I am silent. Farewell, Justice: you have no more business here. I shall depart hence, and then I will turn Jew. It is better to become a Heathen than a Blue, God knows!'36​

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36 Μᾶλλον δὲ Ἐλληνίσαι συμφέρει καὶ μὴ Βενετίσαι, ὁ Θεὸς οἶδεν.​

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The Blues. 'We hate the very sight of you. Your petty spite exasperates us.'​

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The Greens. 'Dig up the bones of the [murdered] spectators.'​

With that the whole faction of the Greens streamed out of the Hippodrome, leaving the Emperor and the Blue party sole occupants of the long rows of stone subsellia.37

The day was drawing towards a close when this multitude of enraged Orientals poured forth into the streets of Constantinople. Soon it was evident that the tumults which had embittered the later days of Anastasius were to be renewed, on a larger scale, and with more appalling circumstances, by reason of the crowds of hungry, idle, and exasperated rustics who had flocked into the town.

 

[Petr]

In a footnote, Hodgkin gives the source of this dialogue:

37 The dialogue between Justinian and the Greens, which Gibbon truly calls one of the most singular that ever passed between a prince and his subjects, is reported in full only by Theophanes. As he is a late authority (ninth century) and often inaccurate, the authenticity of the dialogue has been questioned. But he appears to be quoting from the official Acta, the first few lines of which are given in nearly the same words by the Paschal Chronicle (circa 63). The very obscurity of some of the sentences seems to show that Theophanes was transcribing some document which he only imperfectly understood: and it is equally difficult to imagine what motive he could have had for inventing a dialogue so full of insults against the honoured name of Justinian, and from what spurious source, if so desirous, he could have obtained so many touches characteristic of the times.

 

[Grug Arius]

Like some mob is gonna speak in unison...

The source is probably a fifth-century shitpoast

Theophanes got trolled

Power of the Shitpoast

 

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The Greens. 'Do you call us Jews and Samaritans? We all invoke the Virgin, the Mother of God.'​

...​

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The Greens. 'If your Majesty will fawn upon that party,35 I hold my peace, though unwillingly. O Thrice August one, I know all, all: but I am silent. Farewell, Justice: you have no more business here. I shall depart hence, and then I will turn Jew. It is better to become a Heathen than a Blue, God knows!'36​

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36 Μᾶλλον δὲ Ἐλληνίσαι συμφέρει καὶ μὴ Βενετίσαι, ὁ Θεὸς οἶδεν.​

I do not mean to sound like a snobbish faux-patrician (like Dovahhatty for example), but this anecdote shows how lightly religion could sit on plebs - now they were protesting how orthodox believers they were, but soon afterwards, after having been disappointed, they could basically declare that screw this, I'm gonna change my religion!

(So many Russian plebs, who had outwardly practiced Eastern Orthodox rites in Tsarist Russia, dropped them with startling ease once the Bolsheviks had taken over.)

Btw, here is Dovahhatty's take on the Nika riots at 6:30:

 

[Petr]

Like some mob is gonna speak in unison...

The source is probably a fifth-century shitpoast

Theophanes got trolled

Power of the Shitpoast

Well, it seems that Edward Gibbon, who was not a very credulous historian, believed in its authenticity:

Chapter 40 of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire

Chapter 40 of 'The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire' — Justin,Justinian,Theodora,Circus,Taxes,Edifices of Justinian

www.ccel.org

In the fifth year of his reign, Justinian celebrated the festival of the ides of January; the games were incessantly disturbed by the clamorous discontent of the greens: till the twenty-second race, the emperor maintained his silent gravity; at length, yielding to his impatience, he condescended to hold, in abrupt sentences, and by the voice of a crier, the most singular dialogue (50) that ever passed between a prince and his subjects.

50. This dialogue, which Theophanes has preserved, exhibits the popular language, as well as the manners, of Constantinople, in the vith century. Their Greek is mingled with many strange and barbarous words, for which Ducange cannot always find a meaning or etymology.​

 

[Petr]

I do not mean to sound like a snobbish faux-patrician (like Dovahhatty for example), but this anecdote shows how lightly religion could sit on plebs - now they were protesting how orthodox believers they were, but soon afterwards, after having been disappointed, they could basically declare that screw this, I'm gonna change my religion!

One is also reminded of the mob of Jerusalem in the days of Christ - in one week from "Hosannah!" to "Crucify Him!"

The Jewish plebs had been waiting for some concrete material benefits from Jesus Christ, thinking Him a worldly messiah who would give them food and political glory, and when that failed to come, many of them turned against Him (but most of them probably knew not what they were doing, being just mindlessly carried on by mob mentality).

(So many Russian plebs, who had outwardly practiced Eastern Orthodox rites in Tsarist Russia, dropped them with startling ease once the Bolsheviks had taken over.)

To provide just one example, this is how an Assyrian Christian pastor described what happened among the Russian troops stationed in the Middle Eastern front in 1917:

The Flickering Light of Asia

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In the midst of those joyous hopes and expectations, and out of a clear sky, one day there came the sound of a deafening thunderclap. The commander of the Russian forces in Persia, who was at the time in Urmia, called his officers and men together, and in the hearing of Mar Shimon and his leaders, with tears in his eyes read a telegram which he was holding in a trembling hand. He suppressed his emotions, and said: "Officers, men and friends, I have received this telegram from Petrograd, which I am compelled to read to you all: 'Czar has been dethroned!'"​

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A news of this astounding import would naturally act like a thermometer that would register the real feelings of the hearers. Its stunning effect upon the Assyrians was, of course, a foregone conclusion. But what about the rank and file of the Russian forces, which had heretofore, all alike, served the Emperor and their country? A few wept, and wept bitterly; but the vast majority broke loose like animals released from an iron cage. They shouted, they sang, they unfurled the red flag of the so-called "freedom," and began to celebrate the impending doom of their country and their people!​

...​

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For the Russian soldiers, heretofore, it was a campaign for the protection of the Assyrians; but now it became one of destruction. They heartlessly deserted a forest of guns, piles upon piles of ammunition, together with a vast number of stores, all filled with provisions and other accessories of the war, only to fall into the possession of their former enemies. Thanks to those two hundred loyal Russians, who determined to cast their lot with the Assyrians, and die with them if necessary, rather than return to a country which was destined to suffer by the misrule of men who had gone hopelessly mad. They immediately laid their hands on the stores that had been established in Urmia, and saved from plunderers a certain supply of arms and ammunition. These were turned over to Mar Shimon and his army, and were considered as sufficient for the Assyrians to defend themselves therewith, till some miraculous assistance came to them from some unseen source, or some miraculous way was opened to them that would lead them to where they knew not yet! For now that Russia had become a nonentity in the war, the Turks would surely return in force to invade Persia again, and to harass the British operations in Mesopotamia.​

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How infallibly true the meaning and the import of those awful words which Christ spoke when he said: "Not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." The men who would never venture on any mission or task without crossing themselves, began now to trample upon the very cross they thought they were defending in those benighted lands of Islam! The iniquitous deeds of which they became guilty equaled in their repulsiveness those of the Urmia Tartars. They exchanged their guns for wine, and their garments for vodka. And when their scanty means were exhausted, they inaugurated a campaign of oppression and robbery upon the very people who had before been their protege, as well as upon the Mohammedans. On their way back to the dreamland of Bolshevism, they resembled an army of locusts, devouring everything and everybody, leaving behind ruin and destruction, disgrace and humiliation, together with a helpless people who had staked all upon the pledges and the honor of Russia.​

 

[Petr]

And of course, the basic idea of Satan in the Book of Job is that if the righteous patriarch is met with seemingly senseless disasters, he will soon lose his faith and curse God - in other words, instead of staying faithful unto death, Job will prove himself to be just another disloyal pleb at heart, showing that no true nobility exists on earth:

Job 1 - Clarke's Commentary - Bible Commentaries - StudyLight.org

Job 1, Clarke's Commentary, Adam Clarke's commentary is a valuable resource for Christians seeking a deeper understanding of the Scriptures. His thorough examination of the original texts and focus on historical and cultural context provide valuable insights for readers.

www.studylight.org

The exact maxim of a great statesman, Sir Robert Walpole: Every man has his price. "But you have not bought such a one?" "No, because I would not go up to his price. He valued himself at more than I thought him worth; and I could get others cheaper, who, in the general muster, would do as well." No doubt Sir R. met with many such; and the devil many more. But still God has multitudes that will neither sell their souls, their consciences, nor their country, for any price; who, though God should slay them, will nevertheless trust in him; and be honest men, howsoever tempted by the devil and his viceregents.

But these Nika rioters were clearly not among them - in fact, they had straightaway started to do just what Satan had said Job would do:

"Truth is trodden under foot by a tyrant. I should like to throw these things in the teeth of those who say that God governs the world."

 

[Petr]