One of these leaders was Anastasius he was able to establish a mold that could be used by leaders today. His way of getting the Eastern Roman Empire was contradictory to that of the Western Empire, where the West thought to tax the people more. Anastasius instead abolished many taxes to relieve the burden of the people. “The emperor is treated very positively, with praise in particular for his economic work, which left a surplus of 320,000 lbs of gold in the treasury at his death” (Elton 232). In doing so, in the East the people who had once been tax evading began to pay the taxes. By doing this along with setting up strict economic guidelines, the emperor was able to stabilize the economy and bring about a time of prosperity. With this abundance
