umn of her age and beauty
[113] that she indulged a scandalous attachment to a Thracian youth.
Theodosius had been educated in the Eunomian heresy; the African voyage
was consecrated by the baptism and auspicious name of the first soldier
who embarked; and the proselyte was adopted into the family of his
spiritual parents, [114] Belisarius and Antonina. Before they touched
the shores of Africa, this holy kindred degenerated into sensual love:
and as Antonina soon overleaped the bounds of modesty and caution,
the Roman general was alone ignorant of his own dishonor. During their
residence at Carthage, he surprised the two lovers in a subterraneous
chamber, solitary, warm, and almost naked. Anger flashed from his eyes.
"With the help of this young man," said the unblushing Antonina, "I was
secreting our most precious effects from the knowledge of Justinian."
The youth resumed his garments, and the pious husband consented to
disbelieve the evidence of his own senses. From this pleasing and
perhaps voluntary delusion, Belisarius was awakened at Syracuse, by the
officious information of Macedonia; and that female attendant, after
requiring an oath for her security, produced two chamberlains, who, like
herself, had often beheld the adulteries of Antonina. A hasty flight
into Asia saved Theodosius from the justice of an injured husband, who
had signified to one of his guards the order of his death; but the tears
of Antonina, and her artful seductions, assured the credulous hero
of her innocence: and he stooped, against his faith and judgment, to
abandon those imprudent friends, who had presumed to accuse or doubt the
chastity of his wife. The revenge of a guilty woman is implacable and
bloody: the unfortunate Macedonia, with the two witnesses, were secretly
arrested by the minister of her cruelty; their tongues were cut out,
their bodies were hacked into small pieces, and their remains were cast
into the Sea of Syracuse. A rash though judicious saying of Constantine,
"I would sooner have punished the adulteress than the boy," was deeply
remembered by Antonina; and two years afterwards, when despair had armed
that officer against his general, her sanguinary advice decided and
hastened his execution. Even the indignation of Photius was not forgiven
by his mother; the exile of her son prepared the recall of her lover;
and Theodosius condescended to accept the pressing and humble invitation
of the conqueror of Italy. In the absolute