ings which your eyes have beheld in your lifetime." And the emperor
rejoiced thereat. And the empress, seeing him in good humor, said:
"Please let us learn what the petition contains that its contents may be
fulfilled."

And the emperor ordered the paper to be read; and when it was read, he
said: "The request is hard, but to refuse it is harder, since it is the
first mandate of our son." Thus the petition was granted, and the
empress herself saw to it that all its provisions were fulfilled; and
the bishops returned to Palestine well supplied with funds, having
obtained all they desired by working on the superstition of the empress,
and through her skill in managing the emperor.

The narrative is highly instructive and interesting in the picture it
gives of the empress, her outward piety, her joy at the birth of a son,
her superstitious acceptance of the prophecy of the anchoret, and her
cleverness in the ruse she devised to win the consent of the emperor. It
is an altogether pleasing picture of a religious queen and a devoted
mother, and we could wish that all her conduct had conformed to these
high ideals. The worldly side of Eudoxia's character appeared in the
open war between the empress and the patriarch, which disturbed the
later years of the reign of Arcadius.

John Chrysostom was an austere and eloquent prelate, who had studied the
art of rhetoric under Libanius and had been brought by Eutropius to
Constantinople from Antioch, where he had already achieved great
popularity and an enviable reputation for holiness and eloquence. He was
a man of saintly life and apostolic fervor, but rash and inconsiderate
alike in speech and in action. His charity and eloquence made him the
idol of the people, but his free speaking offended the court circles,
and his austere manners and autocratic methods made him disliked by the
clergy. He thundered against the degeneracy of the wealthy classes and
enlarged on the peculiar vices of the aristocrats, to the confusion of
the empress and her court ladies and to the delight of the populace.

The worldliness and carnal ambitions of Eudoxia can be judged from the
sermons of Chrysostom; and she naturally gave the tone to the ladies of
her court. She was not above suspicion of criminal intrigues, as can be
inferred from the fact of the rumor prevailing that Count John, a
nobleman of the court, was the father of her son Theodosius; but whether
this was merely a court scandal cannot at th