ret History_.

Sardou's drama Theodora represents its heroine as preserving on the
throne the manners of the courtesan, as delighting in the life of the
theatre, as leaving the palace by night to frequent the streets of
Constantinople, as having an amorous intrigue with the beautiful
Andreas, as being in fact another, but baser and more voluptuous,
Messalina. But even the _Secret History_ represents Theodora, after she
mounted the throne, as being, with all her faults, the most austere, the
most correct, the most irreproachable of women in her conjugal
relations.

Whatever her origin and her early life, Theodora adapted herself most
readily to the status and the duties of an imperial sovereign. She loved
and partook fully of the amenities which attended supreme authority. In
her apartments of the royal palace, and in her sumptuous villas and
gardens on the Propontis and the Bosporus, she availed herself of all
the luxuries and refinements of the royal station. Ever womanly and vain
of her physical charms, she took extreme care of her beauty. To make her
countenance reposeful and delicate, she prolonged her slumbers until
late in the morning; to give her figure sprightliness and grace, she
took frequent baths, to which succeeded long hours of repose. Not
content with the meagre fare which satisfied Justinian, her table was
always supplied with the best of Oriental dishes, which were served with
exquisite and delicate taste. Every wish was immediately gratified by
her favorite ladies and eunuchs. Like a true parvenue, she delighted in
the elaborate court etiquette. She made the highest dignitaries
prostrate themselves before her, imposing on those who wished audience
long and humiliating delays. Every morning one could see the most
illustrious personages of Byzantium crowded in her antechamber like a
troop of slaves, and, when they were admitted to kiss the feet of
Theodora, their reception depended altogether upon the humor of the
moment. These details show with what facility, with what complaisance,
Theodora adapted herself to the conditions of her rank.

One must not infer, however, that the Theodora of history was a woman
merely captivated by the outward pomp of royalty. She possessed all the
intellectual and moral gifts which should attend absolute power, and her
rigid enforcement of Oriental etiquette was merely to impress upon
others her supreme authority, and was in conformity to the demand of her
age. Her sali