Page:Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian 1674.djvu/54

 them without any pretence, and when he had them in his power, he thought of them no more, but gave them away in extravagant largesses to the Barbarians, or spent them in ridiculous buildings; and to conclude in few words, He had no Money himself, and would suffer no body else to have any, discovering in that, that it was not covetousness alone which excited him to those things, but malice and envy; so that having exhausted the whole Treasure of the Empire, he was occasion of the universal impoverishment of the whole World. And this as near as I could, is the Character of Justinian, if he may be described by the Pen.

I shall now speak of his Wife, and give an account of her birth, education, manners, and by what accident she came to be Empress, and how she assisted the Emperor towards the de­struction of the Empire. There was at Constan­tinople a Man called Acacius, who had the charge of the Beasts, which the Faction of the Prasini­ans caused to be kept for the shews in the Amphiteater. This Acacius died of the sickness, under the Raign of Anastatius, leaving behind him three Daughters, Comitone, Theodora, and Anastatia; the eldest not above seven years old. Their Mother finding her self a Widow, began to look out for another Husband, who might manage her affairs at home, and exercise her charge; but Asterius being superintendant of the shows which the Prasinians made, and be­ing bribed by Money, took her Husbands office from