Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/261

 *sary did not deserve to be considered seriously, and acquitted the Shah of having acted rashly in embarking on a war with them. Confident, therefore, in the imbecility of the Byzantines, they resumed their march and soon arrived safely within the borders of their own country.

So far in the course of my narrative we have often seen the names of Theodora and Antonina coupled together, but merely in juxtaposition. As I proceed in my attempt to elucidate the sequence of events we shall arrive at a point of time when their lives actually become mingled. Some retrogression, however, is necessary in order to enter on the political track of Theodora nearer its beginning before we can reach those entanglements in her secret machinations where concerted action between the two women becomes apparent. I have already alluded cursorily to the circumstances under which Queen Amalasuntha met her death, but the most effective cause of that crime was one which remained hidden from the public. In addition to her royal descent, which was derived from a long line of kingly ancestors, the Gothic queen was a woman of great personal charm, of cultivated mind, and of an age scarcely exceeding that of the Eastern Empress. Justinian was much impressed at the prospect of a princess of her rank placing herself under his protection, and he prepared a temporary establishment at Epidamnus, in a style suitable to her dignity, in anticipation of her being obliged to fly from the soil of Italy. Later on he expected to receive her at Constantinople, where he doubtless intended that she should be housed permanently in one of the palaces adjacent to the Court. This project, so grateful to the Emperor, was viewed with more than equal abhorrence by his consort. That Amala-*