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in this manner: when a fire broke out where he was staying, he fled naked with his three children; being subject to not a few debts, and about to die, he drew up a will in favor of the same emperor, saying in the will that the most pious Justinian should provide my daughters with a daily allowance of 15 folles; and when they came of age and were to be married, each was to receive a dowry of ten pounds of gold. and my creditors were to be paid off by my heir. And on these terms the same Eulalius died; and the will was brought to the emperor by the curator. And he ordered him to enter into the inheritance; who, having gone to the house where the same Eulalius had stayed, and having made an inventory of his property, found his estate to be up to 564 nomismata. And going away, 440 he reported to the emperor the valuation of the property and the legacies left by him. And having heard these things, the same emperor permitted the curator Macedonius to enter into the inheritance. And indeed when the curator objected to the same emperor that the assets were not sufficient for the terms of the will, the same emperor permitted it, saying, "Why do you prevent me from entering into the inheritance, when I wish to do a pious thing? Go, pay off all his creditors and the legacies stipulated by him; and I order his three daughters to be brought to the Augusta Theodora to be kept in the imperial bedchamber, having ordered that they be given for their dowry twenty pounds of gold each and all the property which their father had left them." At that time the pious Theodora, among her other good deeds, also did this. For those called brothel-keepers went around in every place looking for poor men who had daughters, and giving them, he says, oaths and a few nomismata, they took them, as if for an apprenticeship, and prostituted them publicly, profiting from their misfortune, taking from them the miserable earnings of their bodies, and they forced them to prostitute themselves. And she ordered such brothel-keepers to be arrested with all force; and when they were brought in with the girls, she orde 441 red each of them to say, under oath, what they had given to their parents; and they said they had given five nomismata each. And when all had made their declaration under oath, the same pious empress, having given the money, freed them from the yoke of their miserable servitude, ordering that for the future there should be no brothel-keepers, but having bestowed on the girls themselves clothing for their bodies and one nomisma each, she sent them away. At the completion of the same indiction, the same Augusta Theodora set out for the place called Pythion with patricians and cubiculars, being with four thousand people. And having bestowed many gifts on the local churches, she returned to Constantinople. At that time it was reported to Justinian the emperor that an engagement had occurred between the Persians and the Romans, the Persians having attacked Mesopotamia with 30,000 men and Xerxes, the son of King Kavadh; for Perozes, his elder son, was warring against Lazica and Persarmenia with many reinforcements; for their father Kavadh at that time did not come against the Roman territories; but there went out against Meran and Xerxes, of the duces of Damascus, Koutzis of Vitalian, a most warlike man, and Sebastianus with the Isaurian force, and Proclianus the dux of Phoenicia, and Basil the comes. And Belisarius was also with them and Tapharas the phylarch. But when the horse of Tapharas stumbled, 442 he was thrown to the ground and slain, and likewise Proclianus; but Sebastianus and Basil

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τῷ τρόπῳ τούτῳ· ἐμπρησμοῦ γενομένου ἔνθα ἔμενε, γυμνὸς ἔφυγε μετὰ καὶ τῶν τριῶν αὐτοῦ τέκνων· οὐκ ὀλίγοις δὲ δανείοις ὑποκείμενος, καὶ μέλλων τελευτᾶν, διαθήκας συνεστήσατο εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν βασιλέα, εἰπὼν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ, ὥστε τὸν εὐσεβέστατον Ἰουστινιανὸν παρασχεῖν ταῖς ἐμαῖς θυγατράσιν ἡμερησίας ἀνὰ φόλεις ιεʹ· καὶ γινομένης αὐτῶν τελείας ἡλικίας καὶ ἐρχομένας ἐπὶ γάμον λαμβάνειν προῖκα ἑκάστην δέκα χρυσίου λιτρῶν. ἀποπληρωθῆναι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς δανειστὰς παρὰ τοῦ ἐμοῦ κληρονόμου. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐτελεύτα ὁ αὐτὸς Εὐλάλιος· καὶ ἀνηνέχθη ἡ διαθήκη τῷ βασιλεῖ διὰ τοῦ κουράτωρος. καὶ ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ὑπεισελθεῖν τῇ κληρονομίᾳ· ὅστις ἀπελθὼν εἰς τὸν οἶκον ἔνθα κατέμεινεν ὁ αὐτὸς Εὐλάλιος, καὶ ποιήσας ἀναγραφὴν τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, εὑρέθη ἡ περιουσία αὐτοῦ ἄχρι νομισμάτων φξδʹ. καὶ ἀπελθὼν 440 ἀνήγαγε τῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν διατίμησιν τῆς ὑποστάσεως καὶ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ καταλειφθέντα ληγᾶτα. καὶ ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς ἐπιτρέπει τῷ κουράτωρι Μακεδονίῳ ὑπεισελθεῖν τῇ κληρονομίᾳ. καὶ δὴ τοῦ κουράτωρος ἀντειπόντος τῷ αὐτῷ βασιλεῖ μὴ αὐταρκεῖν τὰ τῶν ληγάτων πρὸς τὰ τῆς διαθήκης, ἐπέτρεψεν ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεύς, εἰπών, Τί με κωλύεις ὑπεισελθεῖν τῇ κληρονομίᾳ, εὐσεβὲς θέλοντα ποιῆσαι; ἄπελθε, ἀποπλήρωσον πάντας τοὺς δανειστὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ληγᾶτα τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διατυπωθέντα· τὰς δὲ τρεῖς θυγατέρας αὐτοῦ ἀχθῆναι κελεύω παρὰ τῇ Αὐγούστᾳ Θεοδώρᾳ τοῦ φυλάττεσθαι αὐτὰς ἐν τῷ δεσποτικῷ κουβικλείῳ, κελεύσας τοῦ δοθῆναι αὐταῖς χάριν προικὸς ἀνὰ χρυσίου λιτρῶν εἴκοσι καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑπόστασιν, ἣν εἴασεν αὐταῖς ὁ αὐτῶν πατήρ. Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ καιρῷ ἡ εὐσεβὴς Θεοδώρα μετὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων αὐτῆς ἀγαθῶν ἐποίησε καὶ τοῦτο. οἱ γὰρ ὀνομαζόμενοι πορνοβοσκοὶ περιῆγον ἐν ἑκάστῳ τόπῳ περιβλεπόμενοι πένητας ἔχοντας θυγατέρας, καὶ διδόντες αὐτοῖς, φησίν, ὅρκους καὶ ὀλίγα νομίσματα ἐλάμβανον αὐτάς, ὡς ἐπὶ συγκροτήσει, καὶ προΐστων αὐτὰς δημοσίᾳ, κατακοσμοῦντες ἐκ τῆς αὐτῶν ἀτυχίας, κομιζόμενοι παρ' αὐτῶν τὸ τοῦ σώματος αὐτῶν δυστυχὲς κέρδος, καὶ ἠνάγκαζον αὐτὰς τοῦ προΐστασθαι. καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους πορνοβοσκοὺς ἐκέλευσε συσχεθῆναι μετὰ πάσης ἀνάγκης· καὶ ἀχθέντων αὐτῶν μετὰ τῶν κορασίων, ἐκέ 441 λευσεν εἰπεῖν ἕκαστον αὐτῶν μεθ' ὅρκου δόσεως τί παρέσχον τοῖς αὐτῶν γονεῦσι· καὶ εἶπον δεδωκέναι ἀνὰ πέντε νομίσματα. καὶ πάντων ἐπιδεδωκότων γνῶσιν μεθ' ὅρκου, δεδωκυῖα τὰ χρήματα ἡ αὐτὴ εὐσεβὴς βασίλισσα ἠλευθέρωσεν αὐτὰς τοῦ ζυγοῦ τῆς δυστυχοῦς δουλείας, κελεύσασα τοῦ λοιποῦ μὴ εἶναι πορνοβοσκούς, ἀλλὰ χαρισαμένη ταῖς αὐταῖς κόραις τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἔνδυσιν καὶ ἀπὸ νομίσματος ἑνὸς ἀπέλυσεν αὐτάς. Ἐν δὲ τῇ συμπληρώσει τῆς αὐτῆς ἰνδικτιῶνος ἐξώρμησεν ἡ αὐτὴ Αὔγουστα Θεοδώρα εἰς τὸ λεγόμενον Πύθιον μετὰ πατρικίων καὶ κουβικουλαρίων, οὖσα σὺν χιλιάσι τέτρασι. καὶ πολλὰ χαρισαμένη ταῖς κατὰ τόπον ἐκκλησίαις ὑπέστρεψεν ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει. Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ ἀπηγγέλθη Ἰουστινιανῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ ὅτι συμβολῆς γενομένης μεταξὺ Περσῶν καὶ Ῥωμαίων, ἐπὶ τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν ἐπιῤῥιψάντων τῶν Περσῶν μετὰ χιλιάδων λʹ καὶ Ξέρξου τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως Κωάδου· ὁ γὰρ Περόζης ὁ μείζων υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν Λαζικὴν καὶ τὴν Περσαρμενίαν ἐπολέμει μετὰ βοηθείας πολλῆς· ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ αὐτῶν Κωάδης ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ οὐκ ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὰ Ῥωμαϊκά· ἐξῆλθον δὲ κατὰ τοῦ Μέραν καὶ Ξέρξου ὁ ἀπὸ δουκῶν ∆αμασκοῦ Κουζτὶς ὁ Βιταλιανοῦ, ἀνὴρ μαχιμώτατος, καὶ Σεβαστιανὸς μετὰ τῆς Ἰσαυρικῆς χειρὸς καὶ Προκληιανὸς ὁ δοὺξ Φοινίκης καὶ Βασίλειος ὁ κόμης. ἦν δὲ καὶ Βελισάριος μετ' αὐτῶν καὶ Ταφαρὰς ὁ φύλαρχος. τοῦ δὲ ἵππου Ταφαρᾶ προσκόψαντος 442 κατενεχθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐσφάγη, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Προκληιανός· Σεβαστιανὸς δὲ καὶ Βασίλειος