CHAPTER IX


As for Justinian's wife, I shall now describe her birth, how she was
brought up, how she married him, and how in conjunction with him she
utterly ruined the Roman Empire.

There was one Acacius at Byzantium, of the Green faction, who was
keeper of the wild beasts used in the amphitheatre, and was called the
Bear-keeper. This man died of some malady during the reign of
Anastasius, and left three daughters, Comito, Theodora and Anastasia,
the eldest of whom was not yet seven years of age. His widow married
her husband's successor in his house and profession; but the chief
dancer of the Green faction, named Asterius, was easily bribed into
taking away the office from this man and giving it to one who paid him
for it: for the dancers had the power to manage these matters as they
pleased.

When Theodora's mother saw the whole populace assembled in the
amphitheatre to see the show of the wild beasts, she placed fillets on
her daughters' heads and hands, and made them sit in the attitude of
suppliants. The Greens regarded their appeal with indifference, but
the Blues, who had lately lost their own bear-keeper, bestowed the
office upon them. As the children grew up, their mother straightway
sent them on the stage, for they were handsome girls. She did not send
them on all at once, but as each one arrived at a fit age so to do.
The eldest girl, Comito, had already become one of the most celebrated
prostitutes of her time.