and more ready to bring it out and spend it. Such a man then was John.
Tribunianus, on the other hand, both possessed natural ability and in
educational attainments was inferior to none of his contemporaries; but
he was extraordinarily fond of the pursuit of money and always ready to
sell justice for gain; therefore every day, as a rule, he was repealing
some laws and proposing others, selling off to those who requested it
either favour according to their need.

Now as long as the people were waging this war with each other in behalf
of the names of the colours, no attention was paid to the offences of
these men against the constitution; but when the factions came to a
mutual understanding, as has been said, and so began the sedition, then
openly throughout the whole city they began to abuse the two and went
about seeking them to kill. Accordingly the emperor, wishing to win the
people to his side, instantly dismissed both these men from office. And
Phocas, a patrician, he appointed praetorian prefect, a man of the
greatest discretion and fitted by nature to be a guardian of justice;
Basilides he commanded to fill the office of quaestor, a man known among
the patricians for his agreeable qualities and a notable besides.
However, the insurrection continued no less violently under them. Now on
the fifth day of the insurrection in the late afternoon the Emperor
Justinian gave orders to Hypatius and Pompeius, nephews of the late
emperor, Anastasius, to go home as quickly as possible, either because
he suspected that some plot was being matured by them against his own
person, or, it may be, because destiny brought them to this. But they
feared that the people would force them to the throne (as in fact fell
out), and they said that they would be doing wrong if they should
abandon their sovereign when he found himself in such danger. When the
Emperor Justinian heard this, he inclined still more to his suspicion,
and he bade them quit the palace instantly. Thus, then, these two men