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so that from there they might provide for themselves the resources for living. But if we, with the imperial prosperity, also try to procure for ourselves things from commerce, from where would those of private fortune provide for themselves the necessities of life?" The empress's native country was the land of the Paphlagonians, and her parents were Marinos and Theoktiste, from the well-born in their country, and both were pious and venerators of the holy icons. And when Theodora was married to the emperor, her mother Theoktiste, who was also called Phlorina, was honored as a *zoste* and a *patrikia*. She lived at the monastery of Gastria, and as some say, she herself had built the monastery. So when the emperor's little daughters were once brought to her as their grandmother—and there were five of them, and their names were these: Thekla and Anna, Anastasia and, along with Pulcheria, Maria. she welcomed the children with gifts and 359 taking them aside privately, she advised them to venerate the holy icons, and bringing venerable images out of a small box, she had her granddaughters venerate and kiss them, and she placed them on their heads and faces. And once when the children returned from there, the emperor asked them what had happened to them at their grandmother's and what she had said to them. So the others kept silent, but Pulcheria, still an infant, related the other things with a lisping voice and added that her grandmother had little dolls in a box—so she called the icons— "and these she places on our heads and faces and gives them to us to kiss." From this, realizing that his daughters were being taught by their grandmother to venerate the sacred icons, he no longer allowed the children to be brought to her, but he did nothing else to harm Theoktiste, respecting her because of the marriage-tie and even more because of her virtue, she who often rebuked him, because he punished the orthodox and insulted the holy icons, and informed him that because of these things, all his subjects were hostilely disposed towards him. Something of this sort also happened concerning the empress. There was a certain little man at the palace who 360 suffered from an impairment of mind and a stammering of tongue, and he was a sort of plaything for the emperor; and for such a person, the women's quarters were also accessible. And once he entered the Augusta's chamber; she then happened to be kissing and venerating holy icons (for she honored them exceedingly without the knowledge of her husband), and that little man, having seen the divine images, asked the empress, "What are these?" She simply said to him, "These are my beautiful little dolls." So having left from there, that deranged little man found Theophilos feasting. The emperor therefore asked him where he had come from. He replied that he had gone to "Manna" (for so he called the empress) and said that she had beautiful little dolls. The emperor, therefore, suspecting that the "little dolls" were icons, became enraged and, breathing fury against the empress, poured out insults upon her and called her an idolatress, relating what had been said by Denderis; for so that little man with the impediment was called. But she wisely outwitted her husband; "For Denderis did not see icons," she said, "but as I was gazing into my 361 mirror, he saw the forms reflected from there and called them 'little dolls'." Having thus plausibly fabricated the story, she softened the emperor's anger and calmed his wrath. He was very harsh to the pious, hastening to make everyone participants in his own impiety, and just as he was an ardent zealot for justice, so he was also for piety, as it seemed to him, and he furiously strove to make his subjects abandon the veneration of icons. Hence he punished very many, turning them away from idolatry, as he said with unbridled tongue, and he made many into confessors. And John the *synkellos*, who had become his teacher and was a partner in his impiety, he sent away to the Hagarenes, wishing to display to them the wealth of the Roman empire. And he sends him with very much money, of which he sent part as gifts to the ruler of the Hagarenes, and the rest for

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ἵν' ἐκεῖθεν τὰς πρὸς τὸ ζῆν πορίζοιντο ἀφορμάς. εἰ δ' ἡμεῖς μετὰ τῆς βασιλικῆς εὐετηρίας καὶ τὰ ἐξ ἐμπορίας ἑαυτοῖς περιποιεῖσθαι πειρώμεθα, πόθεν ἂν οἱ τῆς τύχης τῆς ἰδιώτιδος τὰ ζωαρκῆ συμπορίσαιντο;" Τῇ δὲ βασιλίσσῃ πατρὶς ἦν ἡ χώρα τῶν Παφλαγόνων, πατέρες δ' αὐτῇ Μαρῖνος καὶ Θεοκτίστη τῶν εὖ γεγονότων ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῇ κατ' αὐτούς, εὐσεβεῖς δὲ ἄμφω καὶ τῶν σεβασμίων εἰκόνων προσκυνηταί. τῆς δὲ Θεοδώρας τῷ βασιλεῖ συζυγείσης καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτῆς Θεοκτίστη, ἣ καὶ Φλωρῖνα ἐπωνομάζετο, ζωστὴ καὶ πατρικία τετίμητο. ᾤκει δὲ κατὰ τὴν μονὴν τῶν Γαστρίων, ὡς δέ τινες λέγουσι καὶ τὴν μονὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνη ἐδείματο. ὡς γοῦν πρὸς μάμμην ἀπήγοντό ποτε πρὸς αὐτὴν τὰ τοῦ βασιλέως θυγάτρια, ἦσαν δὲ πέντε, καὶ αἱ κλήσεις ἐκείνων αὗται, Θέκλα καὶ Ἄννα, Ἀναστασία τε καὶ σὺν Πουλχερίᾳ Μαρία. ἡ δὲ δωρήμασι τὰς παῖδας ἐδεξιοῦτο καὶ 359 ἰδίᾳ παραλαμβάνουσα παρῄνει τὰς ἁγίας εἰκόνας σεβάζεσθαι, καὶ ἐκ κιβωτίου σεβάσμια ἐκφέρουσα ἐκτυπώματα προσκυνεῖν αὐτὰ παρεσκεύαζε τὰς θυγατριδᾶς καὶ ἀσπάζεσθαι, καὶ ταῖς κεφαλαῖς αὐτῶν ἐπετίθει καὶ ταῖς προσόψεσι. καί ποτε ἐκεῖθεν ἐπανηκούσας τὰς παῖδας ἠρώτα ὁ βασιλεὺς τί παρὰ τῆς μάμμης αὐταῖς γένοιτο καὶ τίνα παρ' ἐκείνης αὐταῖς λέγοιτο. αἱ μὲν οὖν λοιπαὶ ἐσιώπων, ἡ Πουλχερία δὲ νηπιάζουσα ἔτι τἄλλα τε διηγεῖτο ψελλιζούσῃ φωνῇ καὶ προσεπῆγεν ὡς εἴη τῇ μάμμῃ νινία ἐν κιβωτίῳ, τὰς εἰκόνας οὕτω καλοῦσα, "καὶ ταῦτα τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ τοῖς προσώποις ἡμῶν ἐπιτίθησι καὶ ἀσπάζεσθαι δίδωσιν." ἐντεῦθεν τὰς σεπτὰς εἰκόνας γνοὺς διδάσκεσθαι προσκυνεῖν τὰς αὐτοῦ θυγατέρας παρὰ τῆς μάμμης, οὐκέτι πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀπάγεσθαι τὰς παῖδας παρακεχώρηκεν, ἕτερον δὲ οὐδὲν λυπηρὸν εἰς τὴν Θεοκτίστην εἰργάσατο, αἰδούμενος ἐκείνην διὰ τὸ κῆδος καὶ πλέον διὰ τὴν ἀρετήν, ἣ καὶ πολλάκις ἤλεγχε τοῦτον, ὅτι τοὺς ὀρθοδόξους ἐκόλαζε καὶ ταῖς ἱεραῖς εἰκόσιν ἐνύβριζε, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἀπεχθῶς διακεῖσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπληροφόρει πᾶν τὸ ὑπήκοον. τοιοῦτον δή τι καὶ περὶ τὴν βασιλίδα ἐγένετο. ἦν τι παρὰ τοῖς ἀνακτόροις ἀνθρώπιον καὶ τοῦ 360 νοῦ πάσχον καὶ τῆς γλώσσης παρακοπήν, καὶ ἦν οἷον ἄθυρμά τι τῷ βασιλεῖ· τῷ δὲ τοιούτῳ τυγχάνοντι ἦν καὶ ἡ γυναικωνῖτις βατή. καί ποτε τὸν τῆς Αὐγούστης εἴσεισι θάλαμον· ἡ δ' ἔτυχε τότε ἁγίας εἰκόνας ἀσπαζομένη καὶ προσκυνοῦσα (ἐτίμα γὰρ διαφερόντως ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ ξυνευνέτου), τὸ δ' ἀνθρωπάριον ἐκεῖνο τὰ θεῖα θεασάμενον ἐκτυπώματα, "τί ταῦτα;" ἤρετο τὴν βασίλισσαν. ἡ δὲ ἀφελῶς πως πρὸς ἐκεῖνο "ταῦτα" εἶπε "τὰ καλά μου νινία." ἐκεῖθεν οὖν ἐξελθὸν τὸ παράφορον ἐκεῖνο ἀνδράριον εὗρε τὸν Θεόφιλον ἑστιώμενον. ἤρετο οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτὸν ὅθεν ἥκει. ὁ δὲ παρὰ τῇ μάννᾳ πορευθῆναι ἀντέφησεν (οὕτω γὰρ ἐκάλει τὴν δέσποιναν) καὶ ἔχειν αὐτὴν ἔλεγε νινία καλά. εἰκόνας οὖν εἶναι τὰ νινία ὑποτοπήσας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξώργιστο καὶ πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα πνέων θυμοῦ καὶ ὕβρεις ἐκείνης κατέχεε καὶ εἰδωλολάτριν ὠνόμαζε, τὰ εἰρημένα παρὰ τοῦ ∆ένδερι διηγούμενος· οὕτω γὰρ τὸ παρακεκομμένον ἐκεῖνο ἐκαλεῖτο ἀνθρώπιον. ἡ δὲ σοφῶς τὸν ἄνδρα κατεσοφίσατο· "οὐ γὰρ εἰκόνας εἶδεν ὁ ∆ένδερις" ἔλεγεν, "ἀλλὰ τῷ κατόπτρῳ 361 μου ἐνατενιζούσης τὰς ἐκεῖθεν ἀντανακλωμένας ἑώρα μορφὰς καὶ ταύτας νινία ὠνόμασεν." οὕτω πιθανῶς τὸν λόγον συμπλάσασα τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐμάλαξε καὶ τὸν θυμὸν κατεστόρεσεν. Ἦν δὲ τοῖς εὐσεβέσι λίαν βαρύς, σπεύδων πάντας τῆς οἰκείας δυσσεβείας ποιήσασθαι κοινωνούς, καὶ ὥσπερ τοῦ δικαίου διάπυρος ἦν ζηλωτής, οὕτω καὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας, ὡς ἐκείνῳ ἐδόκει, καὶ ἀποστῆσαι τῆς τῶν εἰκόνων τιμῆς ἐφιλονείκει περιμανῶς τὸ ὑπήκοον. ἐντεῦθεν ἐκόλαζε πλείστους, τῆς εἰδωλομανίας, ὡς ἔλεγεν ἀκολάστῳ γλώσσῃ, αὐτοὺς ἀφιστῶν, καὶ πολλοὺς εἰργάσατο ὁμολογητάς. Ἰωάννην δὲ τὸν σύγκελλον, ὃς αὐτοῦ διδάσκαλος γέγονε καὶ τῆς δυσσεβείας ἦν κοινωνός, πρὸς τοὺς Ἀγαρηνοὺς ἐξαπέστειλεν, ἐπιδείξασθαι σφίσι τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς βασιλείας Ῥωμαίων βουλόμενος. στέλλει δ' αὐτὸν σὺν χρήμασι μάλα πολλοῖς, ὧν τὰ μὲν δῶρα πέπομφε τῷ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν ἀρχηγῷ, τὰ δὲ εἰς