ent characteristics were a spirit despotic and inflexible,
a will strong and passionate, an intelligence clever and subtle, a
temperament by turns frigid and sympathetic; and by these gifts she
dominated Justinian without intermission from the moment of her marriage
to her death, and impressed upon all those about her the knowledge that
she was in every sense an absolute sovereign.

Furthermore, she possessed a calm courage, a masculine inflexibility,
which showed itself in the most difficult circumstances. One can never
forget the most ominous moment in the history of the Eastern Empire,
when the courage and firmness of Theodora saved the throne of Justinian.
This was during the celebrated revolt of 532, known as "The Nika Riot."
The factions of the "Blues" and the "Greens" were really the political
parties of the day; irritated to madness by the oppression of certain
officials, they momentarily united their forces and raised an
insurrection against the government, choosing Nika (Conquer!) as their
watchword, which has become the technical designation of the riot.
During five days, the city was a scene of conflict and witnessed all the
horrors of street warfare. Justinian yielded so far as to depose the
obnoxious officials, but the secret machinations of the "Green" faction,
who wished to place on the throne a nephew of Anastasius, a former
emperor, kept up the conflict. On the fateful morning of the 19th of
January, Hypatius, one of the nephews of Anastasius, was publicly
crowned in the Forum of Constantinople, and was then seated in the
cathisma of the Hippodrome, where the rebels and the populace saluted
him as emperor. Meanwhile, Justinian shut himself up in the palace with
his ministers and his favorites. Much of the city was in flames, the
tumult outside grew ever louder, and the rebels were preparing for an
attack on the palace. All seemed lost. The clamor of victory and the
cries of "Death to Justinian," reached the hall where the emperor,
utterly unnerved, was taking counsel of his ministers and generals. The
prefect John of Cappadocia and the general Belisarius recommended flight
to Heraclea. In haste, by the gardens which led to the sea, vessels were
loaded with the imperial treasures, and all was ready for the instant
flight of the emperor and empress. This was the decisive moment. Flight
meant the safety of their persons, but the abandoned throne was surely
lost, and the gigantic movements that had been sta