Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/407

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 387 in the mechanic occupations of painting and carving ; and the elegance with which he transci-ibed religious books entitled the Roman emperor to the singular epithet of CaUigraphes, or a fair writer. Separated from the v/orld by an impenetrable veil, Theodosius trusted the persons whom he loved ; he loved those who were accustomed to amuse and flatter his indolence ; and, as he never perused the p;:peis that v/ere presented for the royal signature, the acts of injustice the most repugnant to his character were frequently perpetrated in his name. The emperor himself was chaste, temperate, libei'al, and merciful ; but these qualities, which can only deserve the name of virtues when they are supported by courage and regulated by discretion, were seldom beneficial, and they sometimes proved mischievous, to mankind. His mind, enervated by a royal education, was oppressed and degraded by abject superstition ; he fasted, he sung psalms, he blindly accepted the miracles and doctrines with which his faith was continually nourished. Theodosius devoutly worshipped the dead and living saints of the Catholic church ; and he once refused to eat, till an insolent monk, who had cast an excommunication on his sovereign, condescended to heal the spiritual wound which he had inflicted."^ The stoi-y of a fair and virtuous maiden, exalted from a character ard T- IT .11 .111 1 adventures of private condition to the Imperial throne, might be deemed an the empress • 1-11 ■/•! Ill ^1 Eudocla. A.D. incredible romance, it such a romance had not been vex'ined in 121 leo the marriage of Theodosius. The celebi'ated Athenais "^ was educated by her father Leontius in the religion and sciences of the Greeks ; and so advantageous was the opinion which the Athenian philosopher entertained of his contemporaries, that he divided his pati'imony between his two sons, bequeathing to his daughter a small legacy of one hundred pieces of gold, in the lively confidence that her beauty and mei'it would be a sufiicient portion. The jealousy and avai-ice of her brothers ■^3 Theodoret, 1. v. c. 37. The bishop of Cyrrhiis, one of the first men of his age for his learning and piety, applauds the obedience of Theodosius to the divine lavk's. ■"■i Socrates (1. vii. c. 21) mentions her name (Athenais, the daughter of Leontms, an Athenian sophist), her baptism, marriage, and poetical genius. The most ancient account of her history is in John Malala (part ii. p. 20, 21, edit. Venet. 1743), and in the Paschal Chronicle (p. 311, 312). Those authors had probably seen original pictures of the empress Eudocia. The modern Greeks, Zonaras, Cedrenus, &c. have displayed the love, rather than the talent, of fiction. From Nicephorus, indeed, I have ventured to assume her age. The writer of a romance would not have imagined that Athenais was near twenty-eight years old when she inflamed the heart of a young emperor. [Her story has been told agreeably by Gregorovius in his Athenais (ed. 3, 1892). The same empress is the subject of monograph by W. Wiegand : Eudocia, 18^1