cruelty of theodora—her voluptuous life—her ambition—her character and justinian’s compared—her harshness towards persons of rank—their servility—pretended mildness of justinian—theodora’s eagerness for vengeance—her partiality—the insult offered by her to a patrician—her stay at heraeum, on the sea-shore.
as for theodora, her disposition was governed by the most hardened and inveterate cruelty. she never did anything either under persuasion or compulsion, but employed all her self-willed efforts to carry out her resolutions, and no one ventured to intercede in favour of those who fell in her way. neither length of time, nor fulness of punishment, nor carefully drawn-up prayers, nor the fear of death, nor the vengeance of heaven, by awe of which the whole human race is impressed, could persuade her to abate her wrath. in a word, no one ever saw theodora reconciled to one who had offended her, either during his lifetime or after his death; for the children of the deceased father inherited the hatred of the empress, as if it were part of his patrimony; and, when he died, left it in turn to his sons. her mind was ever most readily stirred to the destruction of men, and was incapable of being checked. she bestowed upon her person greater care than necessity demanded, but less than her desire prompted her to. she entered the bath very early in the morning; and, having spent a long time over her ablutions, went to breakfast, and afterwards again retired to rest. at dinner and supper she partook of every kind of food and drink. she slept a great deal: during the day, till nightfall, and, during the night, till sunrise. and, although she thus abandoned herself to every intemperance, she considered that the little time she had left was sufficient for the conduct of the affairs of the roman empire. if the emperor intrusted anyone with a commission without having previously consulted theodora, the unfortunate man soon found himself deprived of his office, in the deepest disgrace, and perished by a most dishonourable death. justinian was speedy in the conduct of business of all kinds, not only owing to his continual sleeplessness (as has been mentioned before), but also by reason of his easiness of temper, and, above all, his affability. for he allowed people to approach him, although they were altogether obscure and unknown; and the interview was not limited to mere admission to the presence of the emperor, but he permitted them to converse and associate with him on confidential terms. with the empress the case was different; even the highest officials were not admitted until they had waited a long time, and after a great deal of trouble. they all waited patiently every day, like so many slaves, in a body, in a narrow and stifling room; for the risk they ran if they absented themselves was most serious. there they remained standing all the time on tip-toe, each trying to keep his face above his fellow’s, that the eunuchs, as they came out, might see them. some were invited to her presence, but rarely, and after several days of attendance; when at last they were admitted, they merely did obeisance to her, kissed both her feet, and then hastily retired in great awe; for they were not allowed to address her or to prefer any request except at her bidding; so slavishly had the spirit of roman society degenerated under the instruction of theodora, and to such a state of decay had the affairs of the empire sunk, partly in consequence of the too great apparent easiness of the emperor, partly owing to the harsh and peevish nature of theodora; for the easiness of the one was uncertain, while the peevishness of the other hindered the transaction of public business.
there was this difference in their disposition and manner of life; but, in their love of money, thirst of blood, and aversion to truth, they were in perfect accord. they were, both of them, exceedingly clever inventors of falsehoods; if any one of those who had incurred the displeasure of theodora was accused of any offence, however trivial and unimportant, she immediately trumped up against him charges with which he was in no way concerned, and greatly aggravated the matter. a number of accusations were heard, and a court was immediately appointed to put down and plunder the subjects; judges were called together by her, who would compete amongst themselves to see which of them might best be able to accommodate his decision to the cruelty of theodora. the property of the accused was immediately confiscated, after he had first been cruelly flogged by her orders (although he might be descended from an illustrious family), nor had she any scruples about banishing, or even putting him to death. on the other hand, if any of her favourites were found guilty of murder or any other great crime, she pulled to pieces and scoffed at the efforts of the accusers, and forced them, against their will, to abandon proceedings. whenever it pleased her, she turned affairs of the greatest importance into ridicule, as if they were taking place upon the stage of the theatre. a certain patrician, of advanced age, and who had for a long time held office (whose name is known to me, although i will not disclose it, in order to avoid bringing infinite disgrace upon him), being unable to recover a large sum of money which was owing to him from one of theodora’s attendants, applied to her, intending to press his claim against the debtor, and to beg her to assist him in obtaining his rights. having heard of this beforehand, theodora ordered her eunuchs to surround the patrician in a body on his arrival, and to listen to what was said by her, so that they might reply in a set form of words previously suggested by her. when the patrician entered her chamber, he prostrated himself at her feet in the usual manner, and, with tears in his eyes, thus addressed her:
“o sovereign lady! it is hard for a patrician to be in want of money; for that which in the case of others excites pity and compassion, becomes, in the case of a person of rank, a calamity and a disgrace. when any ordinary individual is in great straits, and informs his creditors, this immediately affords him relief from his trouble; but a patrician, when unable to pay his creditors, would, in the first place, be ashamed to own it; and, if he did so, he would never make them believe it, since the world is firmly convinced that poverty can never be associated with our class; even if he should persuade them to believe it, it would be the greatest blow to his dignity and reputation that could happen. well, my lady, i owe money to some, while others owe money to me. out of respect for my rank, i cannot cheat my creditors, who are pressing me sorely, whereas my debtors, not being patricians, have recourse to cruel subterfuges. wherefore, i beg and entreat and implore your majesty to assist me to gain my rights, and to deliver me from my present misfortunes!”
such were his words. theodora then commenced to sing, “o patrician,” and the eunuchs took up her words and joined in chorus, “you have a large tumour.” when he again entreated her, and added a few words to the same effect as before, her only answer was the same refrain, which was taken up by the chorus of eunuchs. at length the unhappy man, tired of the whole affair, did reverence to the empress in the usual manner, and returned home.
during the greater part of the year, theodora resided in the suburbs on the coast, chiefly in the heraeum, where her numerous retinue and attendants suffered great inconvenience, for they were short of the necessaries of life, and were exposed to the perils of the sea, of sudden storms, or the attacks of sea-monsters. however, they regarded the greatest misfortunes as of no importance, if only they had the means of enjoying the pleasures of the court.
