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OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
213
pale, was tinged with a natural colour; every sensation was instantly expressed by the vivacity of her eyes; her easy motions displayed the graces of a small but elegant figure; and even love or adulation might proclaim that painting and poetry were incapable of delineating the matchless excellence of her form. But this form was degraded by the facility with which it was exposed to the public eye and prostituted to licentious desire. Her venal charms were abandoned to a promiscuous crowd of citizens and strangers, of every rank, and of every profession; the fortunate lover who had been promised a night of enjoyment was often driven from her bed by a stronger or more wealthy favourite; and, when she passed through the streets, her presence was avoided by all who wished to escape either the scandal or the temptation. The satirical historian has not blushed[1] to describe the naked scenes which Theodora was not ashamed to exhibit in the theatre.[2] After exhausting the arts of sensual pleasure,[3] she most ungratefully murmured against the parsimony of Nature;[4] 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 transient; 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 ap
- ↑ A fragment of the Anecdotes (c. 9), somewhat too naked, was suppressed by Alemannus, though extant in the Vatican Ms.; nor has the defect been supplied in the Paris or Venice editions. La Mothe le Vayer (tom. viii. p. 155) gave the first hint of this curious and genuine passage (Jortin's Remarks, vol. iv. p. 366), which he had received from Rome, and it has been since published in the Menagiana (tom. iii. p. 254-259), with a Latin version.
- ↑ After the mention of a narrow girdle (as none could appear stark-naked in the theatre), Procopius thus proceeds: ἀναπεπτωκυɩ̂ά τε ἐν τῷ ἐδάϕει ὑπτία ἔκειτο. Θη̂τες δέ τινες … κριθὰς αὐτῃ̑ ὔπερθεν τω̂ν αἰδοɩ̂ων ἔρριπτον ἃς δὴ οὶ χη̂νες, ὃι ἐς τον̂το παρεσκευασμένοι ἐτύγχανον, τοɩ̂ς στόμασιν ἑνθένδε κατὰ μίαν ἀνελόμενοι ἤσθιον. I have heard that a learned prelate, now deceased, was fond of quoting this passage in conversation.
- ↑ 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. l. 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.
- ↑ Ἥ δὲ κἀκ τριω̂ν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἑνεκάλει τῃ̑ ϕύσει δυσϕορουμένη ὄτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τιτθοὺς αὐτῃ̑ εὐρύτερον ἢ νν̂ν εἱσι τρυπῴη, ὄπως δυνατὴ εἴη καὶ ἐκείνῃ ἐργάζεσθαι. She wished for a fourth altar, on which she might pour libations to the god of love.
