but, in their love of money, thirst of blood, and aversion to truth,
they were in perfect accord. They were, both of them, exceedingly
clever inventors of falsehoods; if any one of those who had incurred
the displeasure of Theodora was accused of any offence, however
trivial and unimportant, she immediately trumped up against him
charges with which he was in no way concerned, and greatly aggravated
the matter. A number of accusations were heard, and a court was
immediately appointed to put down and plunder the subjects; judges
were called together by her, who would compete amongst themselves to
see which of them might best be able to accommodate his decision to
the cruelty of Theodora. The property of the accused was immediately
confiscated, after he had first been cruelly flogged by her orders
(although he might be descended from an illustrious family), nor had
she any scruples about banishing, or even putting him to death. On the
other hand, if any of her favourites were found guilty of murder or
any other great crime, she pulled to pieces and scoffed at the efforts
of the accusers, and forced them, against their will, to abandon
proceedings. Whenever it pleased her, she turned affairs of the
greatest importance into ridicule, as if they were taking place upon
the stage of the theatre. A certain patrician, of advanced age, and
who had for a long time held office (whose name is known to me,
although I will not disclose it, in order to avoid bringing infinite
disgrace upon him), being unable to recover a large sum of money which
was owing to him from one of Theodora's attendants, applied to her,
intending to press his claim against the debtor, and to beg her to
assist him in obtaining his rights. Having heard of this beforehand,
Theodora ordered her eunuchs to surround the patrician in a body on
his arrival, and to listen to what was said by her, so that they might
reply in a set form of words previously suggested by her. When the
patrician entered her chamber, he prostrated himself at her feet in