is day be ascertained. With
the empress given to worldly vanity, we can imagine the nature of the
society over which she presided. "One curious trait of manner indicates
clearly enough the tone of the court. It was the custom of Christian
ladies to wear veils or bands over their foreheads, so as to conceal
their hair. Women of meretricious life were distinguished by the way
they wore their hair cut and combed over their brows, just like modern
fringes. The ladies of Eudoxia's court were so immodest, and had such
bad taste, as to adopt this fashion from the courtesans. The next step
probably was that the example of the court influenced respectable
Christian matrons to wear the obnoxious fringe." On the other hand,
actresses and public prostitutes retaliated by imitating the dress of
consecrated virgins, and this abuse had to be suppressed by legislation.
In the aristocratic society of Eudoxia three ladies were especially
prominent,--Marsa, the widow of Promotus, a distant relative of the
empress; Castricia, the widow of Saturninus; and Eugraphia, who had also
lost her husband. These ladies, though no longer young, were rich and
fashionable, and endeavored to preserve the appearance of youth by
inordinate attention to complexion and to dress. Eugraphia is mentioned
as given to using rouge and white lead to preserve her complexion, a
habit which was severely condemned by the austere Chrysostom. It was
hard to forgive a preacher who reproached the feminine tendency to
conceal by cosmetics and dress one's age and ugliness.

Furthermore, the attractions of the theatre and the dissipations of high
life engaged the attention of this fashionable set quite as much as did
attendance on religious service and outward manifestations of piety.
Christianity had not suppressed the licentiousness of the stage or
improved the morality of greenrooms. Chrysostom complains of the
lawlessness of the theatre and the obscenity of the songs that delighted
the audience; he was especially shocked at the exhibitions of women
swimming. The professional courtesan, with all the accomplishments of
the actress, was the centre of attraction for the _habitues_ of the
theatre; and she was even allowed to contaminate fashionable weddings
with her presence.

Other types of contemporary society are of interest, especially
instances of the ambitious and fashionable lady, not of the aristocracy,
who wished to work her way up into the court circle. Synesius giv