or their fortunes, to appear in the world,
the living monuments of her vengeance, which was commonly extended to
the children of those whom she had suspected or injured. The senator or
bishop, whose death or exile Theodora had pronounced, was delivered to
a trusty messenger, and his diligence was quickened by a menace from her
own mouth. "If you fail in the execution of my commands, I swear by Him
who liveth forever, that your skin shall be flayed from your body." [33]

[Footnote 31: Her prisons, a labyrinth, a Tartarus, (Anecdot. c. 4,)
were under the palace. Darkness is propitious to cruelty, but it is
likewise favorable to calumny and fiction.]

[Footnote 32: A more jocular whipping was inflicted on Saturninus, for
presuming to say that his wife, a favorite of the empress, had not been
found. (Anecdot. c. 17.)]

[Footnote 33: Per viventem in saecula excoriari te faciam. Anastasius de
Vitis Pont. Roman. in Vigilio, p. 40.]

If the creed of Theodora had not been tainted with heresy, her exemplary
devotion might have atoned, in the opinion of her contemporaries, for
pride, avarice, and cruelty. But, if she employed her influence to
assuage the intolerant fury of the emperor, the present age will allow
some merit to her religion, and much indulgence to her speculative
errors. [34] The name of Theodora was introduced, with equal honor,
in all the pious and charitable foundations of Justinian; and the most
benevolent institution of his reign may be ascribed to the sympathy
of the empress for her less fortunate sisters, who had been seduced or
compelled to embrace the trade of prostitution. A palace, on the
Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, was converted into a stately and spacious
monastery, and a liberal maintenance was assigned to five hundred women,
who had been collected from the streets and brothels of Constantinople.
In this safe and holy retreat, they were devoted to perpetual
confinement; and the despair of some, who threw themselves headlong
into the sea, was lost in the gratitude of the penitents, who had been
delivered from sin and misery by their generous benefactress. [35] The
prudence of Theodora is celebrated by Justinian himself; and his laws
are attributed to the sage counsels of his most reverend wife whom he
had received as the gift of the Deity. [36] Her courage was displayed
amidst the tumult of the people and the terrors of the court. Her
chastity, from the moment of her union with Justinian, is foun