228 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xl the arts of sensual pleasure, 25 she most ungratefully murmured against the parsimony of Nature; 26 but her murmurs, her pleasures, and her arts must be veiled in the obscurity of a learned language. After reigning for some time, the delight and contempt of the capital, she condescended to accompany Ecebolus, a native of Tyre, who had obtained the government of the African Pentapolis. But this union was frail and transi- ent ; Ecebolus soon rejected an expensive or faithless concubine ; she was reduced at Alexandria to extreme distress ; and, in her laborious return to Constantinople, every city of the East admired and enjoyed the fair Cyprian, whose merit appeared to justify her descent from the peculiar island of Venus. The vague commerce of Theodora, and the most detestable precau- tions, preserved her from the danger which she feared ; yet once, and once only, she became a mother. The infant was saved and educated in Arabia, by his father, who imparted to him on his death-bed that he was the son of an empress. Filled with ambitious hopes, the unsuspecting youth immediately hastened to the palace of Constantinople, and was admitted to the presence of his mother. As he was never more seen, even after the decease of Theodora, she deserves the foul imputation of extinguishing with his life a secret so offensive to her Imperial virtue. Her In the most abject state of her fortune and reputation, some with vision, either of sleep or of fancy, had whispered to Theodora J_ J ' J. the pleasing assurance that she was destined to become the spouse of a potent monarch. Conscious of her approaching greatness, she returned from Paphlagonia to Constantinople ; assumed, like a skilful actress, a more decent character; re- lieved her poverty by the laudable industry of spinning wool ; and affected a life of chastity and solitude in a small house, 5e rives . . . KptOas avrrj vTrtpdev rcou alSoluiv eppnrrov &s Sij oi xv ve ^i °^ e ' J tovto 7rape<r/ceuao' / ueVoi trvyxavov, ro?s (TT6fj.a<nv ivdevtie Kara /uilav ave/ievoi tfcrOiov. I have heard that a learned prelate, now deceased, was fond of quoting this passage in con- versation. 25 Theodora surpassed the Crispa of Ausonius (Epigram lxxi.), who imitated the capitalis luxus of the females of Nola. See Quintilian, Institut. viii. 6, and Torrentius ad Horat. Sermon. I. i. sat. 2, v. 101. At a memorable supper, thirty slaves waited round the table ; ten young men feasted with Theodora. Her charity was universal. Et lassata viris, necdum satiata, recessit. 26 "H Se Kan TpiSiv TpvirrifiaTOov ipya£o/u.4vr) ivendKet rfj (pverei Hvcrcpopovixevt] '6ti hj H$l ical rirdovs axirrj evpvrepov ^ vvv eiVi Tpvncpr), '6iroos Swaraj eft) Ka iKelvr) ipyaietrBai. She wished for a fourth altar, on which she might pour libations to the god of love. Justinian
