and eunuchs. Like a true parvenue, she delighted in
the elaborate court etiquette. She made the highest dignitaries
prostrate themselves before her, imposing on those who wished audience
long and humiliating delays. Every morning one could see the most
illustrious personages of Byzantium crowded in her antechamber like a
troop of slaves, and, when they were admitted to kiss the feet of
Theodora, their reception depended altogether upon the humor of the
moment. These details show with what facility, with what complaisance,
Theodora adapted herself to the conditions of her rank.

One must not infer, however, that the Theodora of history was a woman
merely captivated by the outward pomp of royalty. She possessed all the
intellectual and moral gifts which should attend absolute power, and her
rigid enforcement of Oriental etiquette was merely to impress upon
others her supreme authority, and was in conformity to the demand of her
age. Her salient characteristics were a spirit despotic and inflexible,
a will strong and passionate, an intelligence clever and subtle, a
temperament by turns frigid and sympathetic; and by these gifts she
dominated Justinian without intermission from the moment of her marriage
to her death, and impressed upon all those about her the knowledge that
she was in every sense an absolute sovereign.

Furthermore, she possessed a calm courage, a masculine inflexibility,
which showed itself in the most difficult circumstances. One can never
forget the most ominous moment in the history of the Eastern Empire,
when the courage and firmness of Theodora saved the throne of Justinian.
This was during the celebrated revolt of 532, known as "The Nika Riot."
The factions of the "Blues" and the "Greens" were really the political
parties of the day; irritated to madness by the oppression of certain
officials, they momentarily united their forces and raised an
insurrection against the government, choosing Nika (Conquer!) as their
watchword, which has become the technical designation of the riot.
During five days, the city was a scene of conflict and witnessed all the
horrors of street warfare. Justinian yielded so far as to depose the
obnoxious officials, but the secret machinations of the "Green" faction,
who wished to place on the throne a nephew of Anastasius, a former
emperor, kept up the conflict. On the fateful morning of the 19th of
January, Hypatius, one of the nephews of Anastasius, was publicly
crowned in the Forum of Constantinople, and was then seated in the
cathisma of the Hippodrome, where the rebels and the populace saluted
him as emperor. Meanwhile, Justinian shut himself up in the palace with
his ministers and his favorites. Much of the city was in flames, the
tumult outside grew ever louder, and the rebels were preparing for an
attack on the palace. All seemed lost. The clamor of victory and the
cries of "Death to Justinian," reached the hall where the emperor,
utterly unnerved, was taking counsel of his ministers and generals. The
prefect John of Cappadocia and the general Belisarius recommended flight
to Heraclea. In haste, by the gardens which led to the sea, vessels were
loaded with the imperial treasures, and all was ready for the instant
flight of the emperor and empress. This was the decisive moment. Flight
meant the safety of their persons, but the abandoned throne was surely
lost, and the gigantic movements that had been started would collapse.
The prince was hesitating, and all his counsellors shared his
feebleness. Up to this time, the empress had said nothing. At length,
indignant at the general languor, Theodora thus called to their duty the
emperor and the ministers who would forsake all for personal safety:

"The present occasion is, I think, too grave to take regard of the
principle that it is not meet for a woman to speak among men. Those
whose dearest interests are in the presence of extreme danger are
justified in thinking only of the wisest course of action. Now, in my
opinion, Nature is an unprofitable tutor, even if her guidance bring us
safety. It is impossible for a man when he has come into the world not
to die; but for one who has reigned it is intolerable to be an exile.
May I never exist without this purple robe, and may I never live to see
the day on which those who meet me shall not address me as Queen. If you
wish, O Emperor, to save yourself, there is no difficulty; we have ample
funds. Yonder is the sea, and there are the ships. Yet reflect whether,
when you have once escaped to a place of security, you will not prefer
death to safety. I agree with an old saying that 'Empire is a fair
winding-sheet.'"

By these courageous words the resolution of Theodora saved the throne of
Justinian. Her firmness conquered the weakness and the pusillanimity of
the court. Belisarius triumphantly led his forces against the
revolutionists in the Hippodrome. A ruthless massacre followed, in which
thirty-five thousand persons perished. The power of the factions was
forever broken, and henceforth Justinian enjoyed absolute sovereignty
without a protest. The important public buildings which had been
destroyed in the conflagrations incident to the riot were restored on a
more magnificent scale, and the still standing Saint Sophia is a
monument to the genius and splendor of the reign of Justinian and
Theodora.

One can readily understand what a dominating influence such a woman
would maintain over the indecisive Justinian. The passion with which she
had inspired the prince was preserved up to the last moment of her life;
and his devotion and regard ever increased and after her death took the
form of reverential awe, so influenced was he by her superior abilities.
She was to him, in the words of a contemporary historian, "the sweetest
charm"; or, as he himself says in a legal enactment, "the gift of
God"--a play upon her name. After her death, when he would make a solemn
promise, he swore by the name of Theodora. He withheld from her none of
the emoluments, none of the realities, of joint and equal sovereignty:
her name figured with his in the inscriptions placed upon the facades of
churches or the gates of citadels; her image was associated with his in
the decorations of the royal palace, as in the mosaics of San Vitale.
Her name appeared by the side of his on the imperial seal. A multitude
of cities and a newly created province bore her name. In every regard
she shared the sovereignty with the emperor. Magistrates, bishops,
generals, governors of provinces, swore by all that was sacred to render
good and true service to the very pious and sacred sovereigns, Justinian
and Theodora.

When Theodora journeyed, a royal cortege accompanied her, consisting of
patricians, high dignitaries, and ministers, and an escort of four
thousand soldiers as guard. Her orders were received with deference
throughout the Empire; and when officials found them in contradiction
with those of the emperor, they often preferred the instructions of
Theodora to those of Justinian. Functionaries knew that her patronage
assured a rapid promotion in royal power and that her good will was a
guarantee against possible disgrace. Royal strangers sought to flatter
her vanity and to win her good graces.

All the chroniclers record that in state papers on important affairs
Theodora was the collaborator with Justinian. The emperor gladly
acknowledged his indebtedness to her, and we read in one of his
ordinances: "Having this time again taken counsel of the most sacred
spouse whom God has given us...." Theodora likewise on occasion gave
evidence of her authority. She once ordered Theodatus to submit to her
the requests he wished to address to the emperor, and in a communication
to the ministers of the Persian king, Chosroes, she stated: "The emperor
never decides anything without consulting me." She was the regulating
power in both State and Church, appointing or disgracing generals and
ministers, making or unmaking patriarchs and pontiffs, raising to
fortune her favorites, and unsettling the power and position of her
opponents.

Theodora's comprehension of the necessities of imperial politics was
something marvellous, and the wise moves of Justinian were due largely
to her counsel. Yet, though so superb a queen, she was all the more a
woman-fickle, passionate, avaricious of authority, and intensely jealous
of preserving the power she had. Apparently without scruples, she would
get rid of all influence which threatened to counterbalance her own, and
she brushed aside without pity all opposition which seemed to infringe
on her authority. In the intrigues of the palace she ever came off the
victor. Vainly did favorites and ministers who fancied themselves
indispensable attempt to ruin her credit with the emperor. The secretary
Priscus, whom the favor of Justinian had raised to office as count of
the bed-chamber, paid dearly for the insults which he addressed to
Theodora. He was exiled, imprisoned, and finally driven to take orders,
and his enormous fortune was confiscated.

The history of John of Cappadocia is more significant still; at the same
time that it gives insight into the intrigues and plots of the Byzantine
courts, it throws a glowing light on the ambitious nature, the
unscrupulous energy, the vindictive spirit, and the perfidious
cleverness of the Empress Theodora.

For six years John of Cappadocia occupied the exalted position of
praetorian prefect, which made him at the same time minister of finance
and minister of the interior, as well as the first minister of the
Empire. By his vices, his harshness, and his corruption he justified the
proverb:

"The Cappadocian is bad by nature; if he attains to power he is worse;
but if he seeks to be supreme, he is the most detestable of all." But in
the eyes of Justinian he had one redeeming virtue: he furnished to every
request of the prince the funds which the vast expenditures of his reign
demanded. At the price of what exactions, of what sufferings of his
subjects, he obtained these admirable results, the emperor did not
inquire, or perhaps he ignored these considerations. At all events, the
prefect was a great favorite of the prince, and the court aides envied
the success of his administration. Having a dominating influence over
the emperor, possessing riches beyond the dreams of avarice, John
attained to the very apex of fortune. Superstitious by nature, the
promises of wizards had aroused in him the hope of attaining to the
supreme power, as the colleague or successor of Justinian. As a step
toward this he attempted to ruin the credit of Theodora with the
emperor. This was an offence which the haughty empress could not pardon.
The prefect was not ignorant how powerful an adversary he had aroused;
but, conscious of his influence with the emperor and of the state of the
finances which he alone could administer, he regarded himself as
indispensable. But he did not correctly gauge the subtlety of Theodora.
She first endeavored to convince the emperor of the sufferings which the
prefect inflicted on his subjects and then to arouse his suspicions as
to the dangers with which the throne was menaced by the ambition of
John: but the emperor, like all feeble natures, hesitated to separate
from himself a counsellor to whom by long habit and association he had
become attached. Then Theodora conceived a Machiavelian plot.

Theodora's most intimate friend was Antonina, the wife of Belisarius,
whom Procopius describes as a woman "more capable than anyone else to
manage the impracticable." The two clever women devised an unscrupulous
bit of strategy which, if successful, would surely cause the downfall of
the much execrated minister of finance. Antonina, at Theodora's
suggestion, cultivated the friendship of John's daughter, Euphemia, and
intimated to her that her husband Belisarius was seriously disaffected
toward the emperor, because of the poor requital which his distinguished
services had received, but that he could not attempt to throw