A classic and compulsively readable account of the mores and manners of elite society at the court of Emperor Justinian. This is historical mudslinging only a Byzantine could devise, a withering expose of the scandals, intrigues and infidelities of the splendid empire and its rulers by none other than its official historian. This guy had a major ax to grind, which translator G.A. Williamson considers in the long introduction to the author and book.  (TKY11, $14.00)