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saw his own wife as a merchant?" And having said these things, he ordered the men alone to disembark immediately, and that ship to be given over to fire along with its sails and all the other cargo. And he heaped insults upon the empress, and threatened to take her life if from then on she should be caught doing any such thing. And the Empress Theodora originated from the country of the Paphlagonians, boasting of her parents, Marinos, a man not obscure, and her mother Theoktiste, who was also called Phlorina, both brought up in piety and not denying the veneration of the holy icons, as did all at that time, but embracing and cherishing them exceedingly. And when Theodora was crowned with the diadem, her mother Theoktiste was honored as both a *zoste* and a *patrikia*. This Theoktiste, then, in her own house, situated very near to Gastria, summoning Theodora's children (they were five in number, Thekla, Anna, Anastasia, Pulcheria, and Maria), would welcome them with other gifts by which the female sex is naturally enticed, and taking them aside privately she implored them not to be soft nor to remain girls, which they were, but to be courageous and to think thoughts worthy and fitting of their mother's breast, abhorring their father's heresy and venerating the images of the saints. and 2.104 at the same time putting these into their hands (for she kept them in a small box), she would sanctify them by placing them on their faces and their lips, and stirred up their love for them. And so by doing this continually, and kindling in her granddaughters a longing for the holy icons, she did not escape the notice of Theophilos, who inquired what had been given to them by their grandmother and what pleasing thing had been done. The others, therefore, having a steady mind, resolutely evaded his questions as if they were certain snares; but Pulcheria, being a mere child in age, recounted the pleasantries and the abundance of fruits, and she also added the veneration of the holy icons, and so, thinking and speaking naively, said that she had many dolls in her little box, and "she places these on our heads and faces after the kisses." These things stirred the emperor to madness, but he was prevented from doing anything drastic to her, being hindered both by the respect and reverence for his wife and moreover by the frankness she employed (for she was very clearly mocking and refuting him both for the daily persecutions of the confessors and for the aforesaid heresy, and she alone almost made clear the hatred of all towards him), so he only prevented the arrival of his daughters at Theoktiste's. Something very similar happened to the Empress Theodora. There was kept at the palace a crazy little man, similar to the 2.105 Homeric Thersites, Denderis was his name, uttering nonsense and provoking laughter, and living in the palace for the sake of amusement. This one, at any rate, having once burst into the Augusta's bedchamber, caught her embracing holy icons. Seeing these, this half-wit inquired what they were, and coming closer he learned. And the empress said simply, "my beautiful dolls, and I love them very much." At that time the emperor was dining, and indeed, when this wretched Denderis came over to him, he asked where he had happened to be. And he said he was with his 'mamma,' thus calling the Empress Theodora, and that he had seen her taking beautiful dolls out from her pillow. So the emperor understood, and becoming full of wrath he both rose from the table and went to her immediately, washing her with many other insults and calling her an idolater with an unrestrained tongue; and at the same time he related the words of the abominable one. But she, for the moment calming the emperor's anger, said, "You have supposed wrongly, O emperor; the truth is not as you have suspected. For I was gazing in my mirror with my handmaidens, and the

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τὴν αὐτοῦ γαμετὴν ἔμπο ρον ἐθεάσατο;" ταῦτα δὲ εἰπὼν ἐκέλευσεν αὐθωρὸν μόνους ἐξελ θεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, τὴν δὲ ναῦν ἐκείνην παραδοῦναι πυρὶ αὐ τοῖς ἱστίοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἀγωγίμοις. περιέβαλε δὲ καὶ τὴν δέσποιναν ὕβρεσι, καὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἐξαγαγεῖν ἠπείλησεν εἰ φωρα θείη ἔκτοτε τοιοῦτόν τι ποιοῦσα. Ὥρμητο δ' ἡ βασιλὶς Θεοδώρα ἐκ τῆς χώρας τῶν Παφλα γόνων, γεννήτορας αὐχοῦσα Μαρῖνον οὐκ ἄσημον ἄνδρα καὶ μη τέρα Θεοκτίστην τὴν οὕτω Φλωρῖναν κατονομαζομένην, ἀμφο τέρους εὐσεβείᾳ ἐντεθραμμένους καὶ τὴν τῶν σεπτῶν εἰκόνων προσκύνησιν οὐκ ἐξαρνουμένους ὡς οἱ κατ' ἐκεῖνο πάντες καιροῦ, ἀσπαζομένους δὲ καὶ ἐνστερνιζομένους ὑπερφυῶς. διαδήματι δὲ τῆς Θεοδώρας καταστεφθείσης καὶ ἡ ταύτης μήτηρ Θεοκτίστη ζωστή τε καὶ πατρικία τετίμητο. αὕτη δ' οὖν ἡ Θεοκτίστη κατὰ τὸν ἑαυτῆς οἶκον ἔγγιστα διακείμενον τῶν Γαστρίων, τὰς τῆς Θεοδώρας μετακαλουμένη παῖδας (πέντε δὲ ἦσαν τὸν ἀριθμόν, ἥ τε Θέκλα Ἄννα Ἀναστασία Πουλχερία τε καὶ Μαρία) ἄλλαις τε δωρεαῖς αἷς ὑποσύρεσθαι τὸ θῆλυ πέφυκεν ἐδεξιοῦτο, καὶ ἰδίᾳ παραλαμβάνουσα μὴ μαλακίζεσθαι μηδὲ μένειν θηλείας, ὅπερ ἦσαν, ἐξελιπάρει, ἀνδρίζεσθαι δὲ καὶ τῆς μητρῴας θηλῆς ἄξια διανοεῖσθαι καὶ πρέποντα, τὴν πατρῴαν μὲν αἵρεσιν μυσαττομέ νας, κατασπαζομένας δὲ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων εἰκόνων μορφάς. καὶ 2.104 ἅμα ταύτας εἰς χεῖρας ἐμβάλλουσα (ἐφύλαττε δὲ ἔν τινι κιβωτίῳ) τῷ τε προσώπῳ καὶ τοῖς χείλεσιν αὐτῶν ἐπιτιθεμένη ἡγίαζε, καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐκείνων ἀνηρέθιζε φίλτρον. τοῦτο οὖν ἐνδελεχῶς ποιοῦσα, καὶ ταῖς ἐγγόνοις τὸν περὶ τὰς θείας εἰκόνας πόθον ἀνάπτουσα οὐκ ἔλαθε τὸν Θεόφιλον πυνθανόμενον ὅ τι τε αὐταῖς παρὰ τῆς μάμμης δεδώρηται καὶ ὅ τι χάριτος ἐξείργασται ἄξιον. αἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλαι τὰς τούτου πεύσεις, σταθηρὸν ἔχουσαι φρόνημα, ὥσπερ τινὰς λαβὰς ἐρρωμένως παρέτρεχον· ἡ δὲ Πουλχερία κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν νηπιάζουσα τάς τε φιλοφροσύνας κατέλεγε καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὀπωρῶν, προσετίθει δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν σεπτῶν εἰκόνων προσκύνησιν, οὕτω δὲ ἁπαλὰ φρονοῦσα καὶ λέγουσα, ὡς νινία πολλὰ εἴη αὐτῇ κατὰ τὸ κιβώτιον, καὶ ταῦτα τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ τοῖς προσώποις ἡμῶν ἐπιτίθησι μετὰ τὰ φιλήματα. ταῦτα τὸν βασι λέα εἰς μανίαν διήγειρε, πρᾶξαι δέ τι τῶν δραστικωτέρων εἰς αὐ τὴν ἐκωλύετο, τῇ τε πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αἰδοῖ καὶ εὐλαβείᾳ καὶ πλέον ᾗ ἐκέχρητο παρρησίᾳ εἰργόμενος (καὶ γὰρ ἦν ἀριδήλως ἐπι σκώπτουσα τοῦτον καὶ διελέγχουσα ἐπί τε τοῖς καθ' ἡμέραν τῶν ὁμολογητῶν διωγμοῖς καὶ τῇ δηλωθείσῃ αἱρέσει, καὶ μόνη μικροῦ φανερὰν ποιοῦσα τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ἀπέχθειαν), ἐκώλυε δὲ μόνον τὴν πρὸς τὴν Θεοκτίστην τῶν θυγατέρων αὐτοῦ ἄφιξιν. Τούτοις παραπλήσια συμβέβηκε καὶ τῇ βασιλίδι Θεοδώρᾳ. ἐτρέφετο παρὰ τοῖς βασιλείοις ἀνδράριον παρακεκομμένον καὶ τῷ 2.105 Ὁμηρικῷ Θερσίτῃ παρόμοιον, ∆ένδερις ὄνομα τούτῳ, ἄσημά τε φθεγγόμενον καὶ γέλωτα κινοῦν καὶ θυμηδίας ἕνεκεν τοῖς βασι λείοις ἐνδιαιτώμενον. τοῦτο γοῦν εἰσπηδῆσάν ποτε κατὰ τὸν τῆς Αὐγούστης κοιτωνίσκον θείας εἰκόνας κατέλαβεν αὐτὴν περιπτυσ σομένην. ταύτας ἰδὼν οὗτος ὁ παραπαίων τί τε εἰσὶν ἐπυνθά νετο, καὶ πλησιέστερον ἐλθὼν κατεμάνθανεν. ἡ δὲ βασιλὶς "τὰ καλά μου" ἔφησεν ἀγροικικῶς "νινία, καὶ ἀγαπῶ ταῦτα πολλά." εἱστιᾶτο τηνικαῦτα ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ δὴ πρὸς αὐτὸν διαβάντα τὸν αἰσχρὸν τοῦτον ∆ένδεριν ἤρετο ὅποι ποτὲ ἐτύγχανεν ὤν· ὁ δὲ παρὰ τὴν μάνναν ἔφησεν εἶναι, τὴν δέσποιναν οὕτω καλῶν Θεο δώραν, καὶ θεάσασθαι αὐτὴν καλὰ νινία τοῦ προσκεφαλαίου ἐξαί ρουσαν. συνῆκεν οὖν ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ πλήρης ὀργῆς γενόμενος ἐξανέστη τε τῆς τραπέζης καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀπῆλθεν εὐθύς, ἄλλαις τε πολλαῖς ὕβρεσι πλύνων καὶ εἰδωλολάτριν ἀκολάστῳ γλώσσῃ ἀποκαλῶν· καὶ ἅμα διεξῄει τοὺς λόγους τοῦ μυσαροῦ. ἡ δὲ τέως μὲν τὸν θυμὸν καταστορεννῦσα τοῦ βασιλέως "κακῶς ὑπείληφας" ἔλεγεν "ὦ βασιλεῦ· οὐχ ὡς ὑπωπτεύσας ἔχει καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια. τῷ δὲ κατόπτρῳ μου ἤμην ἐνατενίζουσα μετὰ τῶν θεραπαινίδων, καὶ τὰς