direction of his household,
and in the important commissions of peace and war, [115] the favorite
youth most rapidly acquired a fortune of four hundred thousand pounds
sterling; and after their return to Constantinople, the passion of
Antonina, at least, continued ardent and unabated. But fear, devotion,
and lassitude perhaps, inspired Theodosius with more serious thoughts.
He dreaded the busy scandal of the capital, and the indiscreet fondness
of the wife of Belisarius; escaped from her embraces, and retiring to
Ephesus, shaved his head, and took refuge in the sanctuary of a monastic
life. The despair of the new Ariadne could scarcely have been excused
by the death of her husband. She wept, she tore her hair, she filled the
palace with her cries; "she had lost the dearest of friends, a tender, a
faithful, a laborious friend!" But her warm entreaties, fortified by the
prayers of Belisarius, were insufficient to draw the holy monk from the
solitude of Ephesus. It was not till the general moved forward for
the Persian war, that Theodosius could be tempted to return to
Constantinople; and the short interval before the departure of Antonina
herself was boldly devoted to love and pleasure. [Footnote 112: The
diligence of Alemannus could add but little to the four first and most
curious chapters of the Anecdotes. Of these strange Anecdotes, a part
may be true, because probable--and a part true, because improbable.
Procopius must have known the former, and the latter he could scarcely
invent. Note: The malice of court scandal is proverbially inventive; and
of such scandal the "Anecdota" may be an embellished record.--M.]

[Footnote 113: Procopius intimates (Anecdot. c. 4) that when Belisarius
returned to Italy, (A.D. 543,) Antonina was sixty years of age. A
forced, but more polite construction, which refers that date to the
moment when he was writing, (A.D. 559,) would be compatible with the
manhood of Photius, (Gothic. l. i. c. 10) in 536.]

[Footnote 114: Gompare the Vandalic War (l. i. c. 12) with the Anecdotes
(c. i.) and Alemannus, (p. 2, 3.) This mode of baptismal adoption was
revived by Leo the philosopher.]

[Footnote 115: In November, 537, Photius arrested the pope, (Liberat.
Brev. c. 22. Pagi, tom. ii. p. 562) About the end of 539, Belisarius
sent Theodosius on an important and lucrative commission to Ravenna,
(Goth. l. ii. c. 18.)]

A philosopher may pity and forgive the infirmities of female nature,
from which