At a first glance, this notion may appear to benefit the empire by establishing peace with multiple uncivilized groups. However, because of the way Justinian executes this plan, it turns out to be a huge waste of money. Justinian essentially advertises free money to anyone who agrees to make peace with him and the empire. As a result, Justinian makes peace with groups from all over the world; many of which never posed any threat on the empire in the first place. .
Procopius despises another characteristic that both Justinian and Theodora possess: dishonesty. Procopius explains that the empire had long been split into two factions. "Justinian attached himself to one of them, the Blues, to whom he had already given enthusiastic support."3 By deciding to side with a specific faction, parts of the empire broke out into complete and utter chaos. While most of the Blues were ready to follow Justinian's lead, some refused. The Green faction became furious that they did not have their emperor's support and began to pursue careers of crime. Something had to be done to restore order and peace between the two factions. Justinian and Theodora decide to use this unofficial division of the empire's people to their advantage by constantly pretending to fight. The couple turns these make-believe arguments into a dramatic public affair that draws the attention of both the Green and Blue factions. This results in a more peaceful division of the empire; those who support Justinian's rule, and those who support Theodora's rule. The Green and Blue factions basically became insignificant as all attention was focused on the arguing couple. Although the empire was still split into two different groups, it became much more peaceful from this point forward. Those who sided with the emperor refused to rebel against the empress, and vice-versa. Procopius criticizes this dishonesty and condemns the couple for using such an elaborate scheme to trick their people.