ndship. [79]

[Footnote 74: Socrates (l. vii. c. 21) mentions her name, (Athenais, the
daughter of Leontius, an Athenian sophist,) her baptism, marriage, and
poetical genius. The most ancient account of her history is in John
Malala (part ii. p. 20, 21, edit. Venet. 1743) and in the Paschal
Chronicle, (p. 311, 312.) Those authors had probably seen original
pictures of the empress Eudocia. The modern Greeks, Zonaras, Cedrenus,
&c., have displayed the love, rather than the talent of fiction. From
Nicephorus, indeed, I have ventured to assume her age. The writer of
a romance would not have imagined, that Athenais was near twenty eight
years old when she inflamed the heart of a young emperor.]

[Footnote 75: Socrates, l. vii. c. 21, Photius, p. 413-420. The Homeric
cento is still extant, and has been repeatedly printed: but the claim
of Eudocia to that insipid performance is disputed by the critics. See
Fabricius, Biblioth. Graec. tom. i. p. 357. The Ionia, a miscellaneous
dictionary of history and fable, was compiled by another empress of
the name of Eudocia, who lived in the eleventh century: and the work is
still extant in manuscript.]

[Footnote 76: Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 438, 439) is copious and
florid, but he is accused of placing the lies of different ages on the
same level of authenticity.]

[Footnote 77: In this short view of the disgrace of Eudocia, I have
imitated the caution of Evagrius (l. i. c. 21) and Count Marcellinus,
(in Chron A.D. 440 and 444.) The two authentic dates assigned by the
latter, overturn a great part of the Greek fictions; and the celebrated
story of the apple, &c., is fit only for the Arabian Nights, where
something not very unlike it may be found.]

[Footnote 78: Priscus, (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 69,) a contemporary, and
a courtier, dryly mentions her Pagan and Christian names, without adding
any title of honor or respect.]

[Footnote 79: For the two pilgrimages of Eudocia, and her long residence
at Jerusalem, her devotion, alms, &c., see Socrates (l. vii. c. 47) and
Evagrius, (l. i. c. 21, 22.) The Paschal Chronicle may sometimes deserve
regard; and in the domestic history of Antioch, John Malala becomes a
writer of good authority. The Abbe Guenee, in a memoir on the fertility
of Palestine, of which I have only seen an extract, calculates the gifts
of Eudocia at 20,488 pounds of gold, above 800,000 pounds sterling.]

The gentle mind of Theodosius was never inflamed by the ambit