388 THE DECLINE AND FALL soon compelled Athenais to seek a refuge at Constantinople ; and with some hopes^ either of justice or favour, to throw her- self at the feet of Pulcheria. That sagacious princess listened to her eloquent complaint ; and secretly destined the daughter of the philosopher Leontius for the future wife of the emperor of the East, who had now attained the twentietli year of liis age. She easily excited the curiosity of her brother by an interesting picture of the charms of Athenais ; large eyes, a well-proportioned nose, a fair complexion, golden locks, a slender person, a graceful demeanour, an understanding improved by study, and a virtue tried by distress. Theodosius, concealed behind a curtain in the apartment of his sister, was permitted to behold the Athenian virgin ; the modest youth immediately declared his pure and honourable love ; and the royal nuptials were celebrated amidst the acclamations of the capital and the provinces. Athenais, who was easily persuaded to renounce the errors of Paganism, received at her baptism the Christian name of Eudocia ; but the cautious Pulcheria withheld the title of Augusta, till the wife of Theodosius had approved her fruitful- ness by the birth of a daughter, who espoused, fifteen years afterwards, the emperor of the West. The brothers of Eudocia obeyed, with some anxiety, her Imperial summons ; but, as she could easily forgive their fortunate unkindness, she indulged the tenderness, or perhaps the vanity, of a sister by promoting them to the rank of consuls and praefects. In the luxury of the palace, she still cultivated those ingenuous arts which had contributed to her greatness ; and wisely dedicated her talents to the honour of religion and of her husband. Eudocia com- posed a poetical paraphrase of the first eight books of the old Testament, and of the prophecies of Daniel and Zachariah ; a cento of the verses of Homer, applied to the life and miracles of Christ ; the legend of St. Cyprian, and a panegyric on the Persian victories of Theodosius ; and her writings, which were applauded by a servile and superstitious age, have not been disdained by the candour of impartial criticism."^ The fondness of the emperor was not abated by time and possession ; and Eudocia, after the "5 Socrates, 1. vii. c. 21; Photius, p. 4i3-4i20. The Homeric cento is still extant, and has been repeatedly printed, but the claim of Eudocia to that insipid per- formance is disputed by the critics. See Fabricius, Biblioth. Grcec. torn. i. p. 357. The Ionia, a miscellaneous dictionary of history and fable, was compiled by another empress of the name of Eudocia, who lived in the eleventh century; and the work is still extant in manuscript. [The Ionia has been edited by H. Flach. The works of the earlier Eudocia have been recently published by A. Lud- wich, 1893.]
