have to say.’
And there’d be plenty of those, I could see. I cursed Nicetas again. Given half a say in the matter, I’d have had him shipped in chains to Constantinople, there to answer for a stupidity and cowardice indistinguishable in their effects from outright treason. But I continued.
‘It is a fact well-known to Caesar that the Egyptian land taxes have been short since the time of His Imperial Majesty Maurice of sad memory. We are aware of the representations made by your agents in Constantinople, that the late tyrant Phocas was kept deliberately short of revenue. We are also aware of the material help you provided during the late revolution. You, however, will be aware that your taxes were due not to the tyrant but to the Empire itself.
‘You cannot also deny that, during the two years since the revolution, the shortfall has grown still worse. In more settled times, Egypt contributes around a third to the Imperial revenues. At the moment, even though other provinces have been wasted by the barbarians or occupied by the Persians, Egypt contributes barely one- fourth.
‘This is surely insupportable. Heraclius is acknowledged, by Church and by Army and by Senate, as legitimate Emperor. The taxes he is owed – for his own reign and for those of Maurice and of the tyrant – are his by law, and, I will say, by nature.’
For all the law was known in outline, there was a ripple of nervous shuffling throughout the Hall. Perhaps I’d come on a little strong with that nonsense about a government’s natural right to taxes. I smiled and managed a perfect fall from the hieratic tone in which I’d begun.
‘But gentlemen,’ I said, ‘I come before you not as the representative of a tyrant, eager to plunder you of your goods. I represent Heraclius, the Lord’s Anointed, the Thirteenth Apostle, whose reign is and ever shall be known as the restored Golden Age of Love and Justice.
‘Know, therefore, the will of Caesar.’
Deep under the folds of my robe, I moved my leg to give Martin an imperceptible kick. He opened the first and biggest papyrus roll to the marked place and read in his loudest, flattest voice.
Back in Constantinople, I’d counselled against the switch of official language from Latin to Greek. Bearing in mind the weight each had for many years had in the Empire, it made sense to have all communications from the government in the language best known to the educated classes. What had concerned me, though, was the greater chance of ambiguity and therefore of chicanery provided by the very riches of Greek.
Listening again to the marvellous clarity of the new land law, it was obvious I’d been wrong. Sadly, though, I don’t think my assembly of landowners cared one way or the other about the style. What they hated was the content. Martin was barely halfway through the reading before the murmurs broke out. As I said, they’d had time to know exactly what was coming. But there were certain motions that had to be gone through. When Martin came to the rights and obligations of the enfranchisees, the shouting got really under way.
‘Are you telling us,’ one of the fattest in the assembly bawled, all thought of my position absent from his outraged mind, ‘that, in return for letting us off a few taxes, we’re to give our best land to the wogs? And do I hear right that you’re even planning to arm them?’
As the horrified babble rose higher, I leaned slightly forward.
‘Get that man’s name,’ I said to Martin, trying not to move my lips. He’d been one of the latecomers. I’d not had time to try sucking up to him; and he seemed genuinely not to have known the details of the law. ‘Put him on the red list for the apportionment of lands.’
Martin nodded.
I wanted to single out another of the dissenters, but Apion was now trying to make himself heard.
‘There is no alternative,’ he was saying. ‘The scheme has already been tried in the Asiatic provinces. Already, it has increased the revenues and ended brigandage.’
My biggest ally was Apion. If Nicetas had been wasting my time, I hadn’t. I’d been hard at work on lobbying of my own. Apion had the biggest estates in Egypt. A few assurances about his own interests, plus the promise of a governorship for the nephew he’d sent off to study in Constantinople, and he’d come neatly on side. Now, he was doing his best to rally support beyond the richer landowners who, comparatively speaking, had less to lose from the reforms.
‘You mark my words,’ the fatty broke into the emollient flow, ‘you give land to the wogs, and they’ll let it go to waste. They’ll be putting up heretical churches while they’ve money to spend. When that’s run out, they’ll turn up here in Alexandria. Give them arms – why, they’ll cut the throat of every honest Greek in Egypt.’
The man had the nerve to put his hat on in my presence. He sat back in his chair and glared openly at me. All round him, the roar of approval grew in volume. Apion looked nervously at me for support.
If I hadn’t been long in Alexandria, I’d managed to learn one important truth. This was that the less Greek someone looked, the louder he damned the natives. This creature’s ancestors might well have bought a pedigree showing descent from the Macedonian settlers called in by the first Ptolemy. His dark eyes and swarthy face told a different story. Indeed, when not twisted in almost apoplectic rage, his lips had a slight touch of the Ethiopian about them.
But so it was with most of them. Their Greek was barely less harsh than that of the natives who spoke it as a foreign language. In private, their customs differed hardly at all. Even so, they had their Greek names and Greek robes, and they clung – at least in public – to the Orthodox Faith laid down at Chalcedon. They called themselves a Greek ruling caste in the country. And they didn’t care to learn they might have to behave otherwise.
I held up my arms for silence. No one paid attention. I nodded to one of the guards at the back of the Hall. He drew his sword and beat hard against his shield.
That brought them all to order. There was a flicker from overhead as the sun moved round to be caught by another of the mirrors.
‘Gentlemen,’ I said, ‘I must remind you that I am not here to negotiate with you, but to inform you of the settled will of Caesar himself. My Lord Apion has already told you that this is the law not merely for Egypt, but for the Empire as a whole. I will, however, do you the honour of explaining the purpose of the law.
‘For the past three hundred years, the Imperial government has generally had one response to each successive crisis of the state. This has been to ensure continued production by tying the cultivators of the soil ever more firmly to the soil, and putting them under the dominion of the great landowners.
‘This may, in each case, have given a temporary respite. In the long term, it has reduced the bulk of the population from free citizens to something approaching slaves. It has also reduced the numbers of the population.
‘I understand that this process was completed somewhat earlier in Egypt than elsewhere in the Empire. Indeed, it predates the entry of Egypt into the Imperial system.’
Well, that was certain truth. If you’ve ever seen those repulsive wall carvings put up by the kings here before any foreign conquest, you’ll know just how exalted every ruling class has made itself since time immemorial.
But, again, I continued: ‘Whatever the case, the effect has been the same in all places. The Empire is fighting desperately for life on every frontier. You all know of our losses to the Persians. You may not be aware that, in the past year alone, we have lost our last part of Spain to the Visigoths; and our losses in Italy to the Lombards have put Rome itself under almost continual siege. But for the efforts of His Holiness the Universal Bishop, Rome would long since have fallen.
‘We need soldiers to defend the Empire, and we need taxes to pay them. That means we must give the cultivators of the soil ownership of the soil they cultivate. Only then will they produce. Only then will they pay taxes. Only then will they lift a finger in defence of the Empire.
‘As My Lord Apion has also said, there is no alternative. If the landed interest in every part of the Empire will not give up part of what it has, all of it will finally be taken away under the rule of barbarian and Persian invaders who care nothing for established orders.
‘We have heard it said that native landowners will squander what they are given and settle in Alexandria. This has not been our experience elsewhere. The land grants and duties of military service will be inalienable. I do assure you, the natives will be tied more firmly to the land by interest than they ever have been by law.
‘If this Empire is to survive, it must become, more than it has in recent centuries been, one of farmers and soldiers. Only those cities shall survive that have trade or manufactures to support them – and only so far as trade or manufactures can support them.’
I sat down to a deathly silence. Perhaps I’d been carried away when I dropped that little hint about ending
