became their natural leader. Hence, both their natural proclivities and
the zeal of their followers forced the two empresses into an attitude of
rivalry which could only be settled by the retirement or fall of one or
the other of them.

Shortly after her return it seems that Eudocia, in union with
Chrysaphius, succeeded in lessening the influence of Pulcheria. So
thoroughly did she control her weak but fond husband that Pulcheria
withdrew from the palace to the retirement of her villa at Hebdomon, and
it has even been asserted that Theodosius, at the request of his wife,
meditated making his sister take orders as a deaconess, so that she
would have to relinquish her secular power. Thus for a time Eudocia
experienced the keen delight of sole and uncontested power. But the
retirement of the Augusta, who had for so many years exercised the
paramount influence in the court, was the very step to arouse the
orthodox and to lead them to undertake every form of intrigue for the
ruin of Eudocia and the return of Pulcheria. The result was that, after
enjoying for a brief period the sole supremacy, Eudocia fell from the
loftiest heights of supreme authority into the deepest depths of
humiliation and sorrow.

The orthodox party, with a cleverness which discounted the aims of the
nobility, utilized the jealousy of Theodosius as the lever to overturn
the beautiful and talented empress. Paulinus had been the boyhood friend
of Theodosius, and their intimacy had grown with the passing of the
years. He had ardently approved the prince's determination to make the
Athenian maiden his wife, and had acted as his best man in the wedding
festivities. Owing to the affectionate relations between the two men,
Paulinus had enjoyed a free association with both emperor and empress,
unhindered by the restricting bonds of court etiquette; and his
relations with Eudocia were always of the most friendly and open-hearted
character. These relations the enemies of Eudocia seized upon for the
attainment of their ends, and their attempt succeeded only too well. It
is fitting to tell the story in the words of John Malalas, the earliest
chronicler who records it:

"It so happened," says the chronicler, "that as the Emperor Theodosius
was proceeding to the church _In Sanctis Theophaniis_, the master of
offices, Paulinus, being indisposed on account of an ailment in his
foot, remained at home and made an excuse. But a certain poor man
brought to Theodosius a