Page:Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian 1674.djvu/13

 fortunes upon the uncertainty of his favor. Con­stantine, who was one of the Lieutenant Gene­rals to Bellisarius, seeing him much discomposed at the business, and pitying his misfortune, told him inconsiderately, That if the case had been his, he would have made an example ra­ther of his wife, then Theodosius: Which ex­pression being reported to Antonina, she locked up her resentment for some time in her Brest, that when she had opportunity she might re­venge her self more effectually. For she was the person of the whole World, who knew how to dissemble her indignation, and cover that venome which lay boiling in her Soul; and the truth is, she carried her self so cun­ningly, that in a short time, either by the effi­cacy of her charms, or the insinuation of her tongue, she perswaded her Husband that the report of her disloyalty to him was unjust, and that nothing was more false, then that accusa­tion. Whereupon Bellisarius sent for Theodosius back again to Antonina, and promised to deliver up the Macedonian, and the two Chamber-Maids, which he performed very punctually. This cruel Woman, had no sooner got them in her power, but having first cut off their Noses, she caused their Bodies be hacked into a thou­sand pieces, and then cram’d into a Sack, and thrown into the Sea. Her main agent in this horrid execution, was one of her servants called Eugenius, who had been a great Minister like­wise in the miseries which Pope Salverius had suffered. At length, Bellisarius at the perswa­sion Rh