Hither came men whose names recalled the glories of the Republic; others who were addressed by appellations which told of Greek dominion; alike they claimed the dignity of Roman optimates, and deemed themselves ornaments of an empire which would endure as long as the world.

Several ranked as senators; two or three were ex-consuls; ten years ago the last consul of Rome had laid down his shadowy honours; one had held the office of Praetorian Prefect when Theodoric was king; yet, from the political point of view, all were now as powerless as their own slaves.

Wealth a few of them still possessed, but with no security; a rapacious Byzantine official, the accident of war, might at any moment strip them of all they had.

For the most part they had already sunk to poverty, if not to indigence; among these aristocratic faces were more than one which bore the mark of privation.

Those who had little means or none lived as parasites of more fortunate relatives; though beggars, they housed in palaces--palaces, it is true, which had often no more comfort within their marble walls than the insulae where the ignoble laid their heads.
When all had perused the will, Basil rose up and addressed them.