The people had the impression that suddenly for first time in our days our neighbouring peoples have infiltrated the borders of the Romans and were intruded suddenly in our lands but for me a house is already destroyed as soon as the ties that hold it disappear. That the people did not understood the cause of the misfortune does not mean that has been grow and spread as a result of the first reason: the clouds that were concentrated at that time were preparing the today’s cataclysm but it not time yet to talk about it.”
For the same:” Since two things are supporting the Roman’s Empire, I mean the money and the titles in which both is added and a third from outside, their wise management and mainly their distribution but he undertook to empty the state’ s treasuries and as far as the titles concern he gave them in a flash without any logical reason to a bulk of people and particular to those that they press him most or the whisper him in the proper time something that made him laugh.”
4. Michael Attaliates, Historia, on Constantine IX Monomachos
from Michael. Attaliates, HISTORIA, ed, E. Bekker, CSHB, (Boon, 1864), 44-45
…this happened because of the venality of the king. It was a large army in Iberia which was sustained from the taxes of those countries, the king grabbed the taxes and by that way he lost a great power because he did not only lost allies but it transformed them to powerful enemies and he added them to the power of his opponents [the Turks] so he made them completely irresistible.
5. Michael Attaliates, Historia, on Isaac I Komnenos
from Michael. Attaliotes, HISTORIA, ed, E. Bekker, CSHB, (Boon, 1864), 60-62
As soon as he seized power he was thinking about the expenses of the empire and for the amount of the salary of the army, since it was going to be occurred a lot of wars and in order the army to be victorious and to protect all the Romans it was need of founds. For that reason he tried to collect money from those that they were rich and he heavily taxed those that they owed to the state. Afterwards he cut off the taxes that several officials collected and particular when some of those were extracting money because of greediness. He gave care to manage wisely and increase the land that was royal property.
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