The improvement of the revenue was committed to Alexander, a subtle scribe, long practised in the fraud and oppression of the Byzantine schools, and whose name of Psalliction, the scissors, [9] was drawn from the dexterous artifice with which he reduced the size without defacing the figure, of the gold coin.

Instead of expecting the restoration of peace and industry, he imposed a heavy assessment on the fortunes of the Italians.

Yet his present or future demands were less odious than a prosecution of arbitrary rigor against the persons and property of all those who, under the Gothic kings, had been concerned in the receipt and expenditure of the public money.

The subjects of Justinian, who escaped these partial vexations, were oppressed by the irregular maintenance of the soldiers, whom Alexander defrauded and despised; and their hasty sallies in quest of wealth, or subsistence, provoked the inhabitants of the country to await or implore their deliverance from the virtues of a Barbarian.

Totila [10] was chaste and temperate; and none were deceived, either friends or enemies, who depended on his faith or his clemency.