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he seemed to possess a human soul, but it was as if nature had taken away all the depravity from other men 8.28 and deposited it in the soul of this man. Besides his other faults, he was excessively prone to listen to slanders, and swift to inflict punishment. For he never judged by making an investigation, but upon hearing the accuser 8.29 he decided to pronounce sentence immediately. And he wrote letters with no hesitation, ordering captures of places, burnings of cities, and enslavements of whole nations 8.30 for no reason. So that if one were to weigh all the calamities that have befallen the Romans from the beginning and set them against these, it seems to me that one would find more human slaughter to have occurred by the hand of this man than has happened in all 8.31 the rest of time. As for other people's money, he was most tireless in its senseless acquisition; for he did not even deign to put forward any pretext of justice as a screen for encroaching on what did not belong to him; but when it became his own, he was most ready with irrational prodigality to despise it and to squander it on the barba8.32 rians for no reason. And, to put it simply, he neither had money himself nor allowed anyone else to have any, as if he were overcome not by avarice, but by envy of those who possessed it. 8.33 So, having very easily banished wealth from the land of the Romans, he became the creator of poverty for all. 9.1Such, then, were the characteristics of Justinian, as far as we are able to describe them. And he married a woman, and in what manner she was born and brought up and joined in marriage to this man and utterly ruined the Roman state, I shall now declare. 9.2There was a certain Acacius in Byzantium, a keeper of the wild beasts for the games of the Green faction, a man they call a bear-keeper. 9.3 This man, during the reign of the emperor Anastasius, died of a disease, leaving behind three daughters, Comito, Theodora and Anastasia, the eldest of whom was not yet seven 9.4 years old. And his wife, now a widow, went to bed with another man, who was to take care of her household and this work from then on. 9.5 But the dance-master of the Greens, Asterius by name, being persuaded by another with money, removed these people from this position, and without any trouble he appointed in their place the one who had given him the money. For the dance-masters were allowed to manage such things with authority as they 9.6 wished. When the woman saw the entire populace gathered in the Hippodrome, she placed garlands on the heads and in both hands of her daughters 9.7 and set them down as suppliants. But the Greens were by no means disposed to accept the supplication, while the Blues appointed them to this very position, since 9.8 their own beast-keeper had recently died. When these children reached puberty, their mother immediately put them on the stage there, since they were comely in appearance, not all at the same time, however, but as each one seemed to her to be of age for this work. 9.9 The first, Comito, had already become famous among the courtesans of her time; and Theodora, the next after her, wearing a little sleeved tunic befitting a slave-girl, followed, serving her in other ways and always carrying on her shoulders the stool on which her sister 9.10 used to sit in the assemblies. For a time, then, Theodora, being underage, was in no way able to go to bed with a man, nor to have intercourse as a woman; but she engaged in a certain kind of male depravity with the unfortunate, and these were slaves, who, following their masters to the theater, made this ruinous business a sideline to their available leisure, and in a brothel for a very long time she spent her time in this unnatural service of the 9.11 body. But as soon as she arrived at puberty and was now of age, she put herself on the stage, and immediately became a courtesan, of the sort that the men of old 9.12 used to call "infantry." For she was not a flute-player nor a harpist, nor indeed had she practiced dancing, but she sold her beauty to whomever chanced upon her, working with her whole body. 9.13 Then to the

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ἄνθρωπον ἔχων ἐφαίνετο, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν ἡ φύσις ἐδόκει τὴν κακοτροπίαν ἀφελομένη τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώ8.28 πους ἐν τῇ τοῦδε τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καταθέσθαι ψυχῇ. ἦν δὲ πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐς μὲν τὰς διαβολὰς εὔκολος ἄγαν, ἐς δὲ τὰς τιμωρίας ὀξύς. οὐ γάρ τι πώποτε διερευνησάμενος ἔκρινεν, ἀλλ' ἀκούσας τοῦ διαβάλλον8.29 τος τὴν γνῶσιν εὐθὺς ἐξενεγκεῖν ἔγνω. ἔγραφέ τε γράμματα οὐδεμιᾷ ὀκνήσει, χωρίων τε ἁλώσεις καὶ πόλεων ἐμπρησμοὺς καὶ ὅλων ἐθνῶν ἀνδραποδισμοὺς 8.30 ἐξ αἰτίας οὐδεμιᾶς ἔχοντα. ὥστε εἴ τις ἄνωθεν ἅπαντα τὰῬωμαίοις ξυνενεχθέντα σταθμώμενος ἀντισηκοῦν αὐτὰ τούτοις ἐθέλοι, δοκεῖ μοι ἂν πλείω φόνον εὑρέσθαι ἀνθρώπων πρὸς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε ξυμβάντα ἢ ἐν 8.31 τῷ ἄλλῳ παντὶ αἰῶνι γεγενῆσθαι τετύχηκε. τῶν δὲ ἄλλων χρημάτων ἐς μὲν τὴν ἀναίσθητον κτῆσιν ἀοκνότατος ἦν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ σκῆψιν ἠξίου τινὰ παραπέτασμα τοῦ δικαίου προβεβλημένος τῶν οὐ προσηκόντων ἐπιβατεύειν· γενομένων δὲ οἰκείων ἑτοιμότατος ἦν ἀλογίστῳ φιλοτιμίᾳ περιφρονεῖν τε καὶ τοῖς βαρ8.32 βάροις προΐεσθαι οὐδενὶ λόγῳ. καὶ τὸ ξύμπαν εἰπεῖν, χρήματα οὔτε αὐτὸς εἶχεν οὔτε ἄλλον τινὰ ἔχειν τῶν ἁπάντων εἴα, ὥσπερ οὐ φιλοχρηματίας ἡσσώμενος, ἀλλὰ φθόνῳ ἐς τοὺς ταῦτα κεκτημένους ἐχόμενος. 8.33 ἐξοικίσας οὖν ῥᾷστα τὸν πλοῦτον ἐκῬωμαίων τῆς γῆς πενίας δημιουργὸς ἅπασι γέγονεν. 9.1Ἰουστινιανῷ μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐς τὸν τρόπον ὅσα γε ἡμᾶς δύνασθαι φράσαι τῇδέ πη εἶχεν. ἔγημε δὲ γυναῖκα, ἣ ὅντινα τρόπον γενομένη τε καὶ τραφεῖσα καὶ τῷδε τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐς γάμον ξυναφθεῖσα πρόρριζονῬωμαίοις τὴν πολιτείαν ἐξέτριψεν, ἐγὼ δηλώσω. 9.2Ἀκάκιος ἦν τις ἐν Βυζαντίῳ θηριοκόμος τῶν ἐν κυνηγεσίῳ θηρίων μοίρας Πρασίνων, ὅνπερ ἀρκοτρόφον 9.3 καλοῦσιν. οὗτος ὁ ἀνὴρἈναστασίου τὴν αὐτοκράτορα ἀρχὴν ἔχοντος ἐτελεύτησε νόσῳ παίδων οἱ ἀπολελειμμένων τριῶν θήλεος γένους, Κομιτοῦς τε καὶ Θεοδώρας καὶἈναστασίας, ὧνπερ ἡ πρεσβυτάτη οὔπω ἑπ9.4 ταέτης γεγονυῖα ἐτύγχανεν. ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ἐκπεσοῦσα ἑτέρῳ ἀνδρὶ ἐς κοίτην ἦλθεν, ὃς δὴ ξὺν αὐτῇ τῶν τε κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ τοῦ ἔργου τούτου ἐπιμελήσεσθαι 9.5 τὸ λοιπὸν ἔμελλεν. ὁ δὲ τῶν Πρασίνων ὀρχηστὴςἈστέριος ὄνομα χρήμασι πρὸς ἑτέρου ἀναπεισθεὶς τούτους μὲν τῆς τιμῆς ταύτης ἀπέστησε, τὸν δέ οἱ τὰ χρήματα δόντα ἐς αὐτὴν ἀντεκατέστησεν οὐδενὶ πόνῳ. τοῖς γὰρ ὀρχησταῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐξῆν διοικεῖσθαι κατ' 9.6 ἐξουσίαν ᾗ βούλοιντο. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸν δῆμον ξύμπαντα ἡ γυνὴ ἐν κυνηγεσίῳ ἀγηγερμένον εἶδε, στέμματα ταῖς παισὶν ἔν τε τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς χερσὶν 9.7 ἐνθεμένη ἐς τὴν ἱκετείαν ἐκάθισεν. ἀλλ' οἱ Πράσινοι μὲν προσίεσθαι τὴν ἱκετείαν οὐδαμῆ ἔγνωσαν, Βένετοι δὲ αὐτὰς ἐπὶ ταύτης δὴ κατεστήσαντο τῆς τιμῆς, ἐπεὶ 9.8 ὁ θηριοκόμος ἐτετελευτήκει καὶ αὐτοῖς ἔναγχος. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ παιδία ταῦτα ἐς ἥβην ἦλθε, καθῆκεν αὐτὰ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐνταῦθα σκηνῆς αὐτίκα ἡ μήτηρ, ἐπεὶ εὐπρεπεῖς τὴν ὄψιν ἦσαν, οὐ μέντοι ὑπὸ χρόνον τὸν αὐτὸν ἁπάσας, ἀλλ' ὡς ἑκάστη ἔδοξέν οἱ ἐς τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο 9.9 ὡραία εἶναι. ἡ μὲν οὖν πρώτη Κομιτὼ ἤδη ἐν ταῖς καθ' αὑτὴν ἑταίραις λαμπρὰ ἐγεγόνει· Θεοδώρα δὲ ἡ μετ' ἐκείνην χιτωνίσκον χειριδωτὸν ἀμπεχομένη δούλῳ παιδὶ πρέποντα τά τε ἄλλα ὑπηρετοῦσα εἵπετο καὶ τὸ βάθρον ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἀεὶ ἔφερεν, ἐφ' οὗπερ ἐκείνη 9.10 ἐν τοῖς ξυλλόγοις καθῆσθαι εἰώθει. τέως μὲν οὖν ἄωρος οὖσα ἡ Θεοδώρα ἐς κοίτην ἀνδρὶ ξυνιέναι οὐδαμῆ εἶχεν, οὐδὲ οἷα γυνὴ μίγνυσθαι· ἡ δὲ τοῖς κακοδαιμονοῦσιν ἀνδρείαν τινὰ μισητίαν ἀνεμίσγετο, καὶ ταῦτα δούλοις, ὅσοι τοῖς κεκτημένοις ἑπόμενοι ἐς τὸ θέατρον πάρεργον τῆς οὔσης αὐτοῖς εὐκαιρίας τὸν ὄλεθρον τοῦτον εἰργάζοντο, ἔν τε μαστροπείῳ πολύν τινα χρόνον ἐπὶ ταύτῃ δὴ τῇ παρὰ φύσιν ἐργασίᾳ τοῦ 9.11 σώματος διατριβὴν εἶχεν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τάχιστα ἔς τε τὴν ἥβην ἀφίκετο καὶ ὡραία ἦν ἤδη, εἰς τὰς ἐπὶ σκηνῆς καθῆκεν αὑτὴν, ἑταίρα τε εὐθὺς ἐγεγόνει, οἵανπερ 9.12 οἱ πάλαι ἄνθρωποι ἐκάλουν πεζήν. οὐ γὰρ αὐλήτρια οὐδὲ ψάλτρια ἦν, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὰ ἐς τὴν ὀρχήστραν αὐτῇ ἤσκητο, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὥραν τοῖς ἀεὶ περιπίπτουσιν ἀπεδίδοτο μόνον ἐκ παντὸς ἐργαζομένη τοῦ σώματος. 9.13 εἶτα τοῖς