When Belisarius entered Roman territory, he found that his wife had
arrived from Byzantium. He kept her in custody in disgrace, and was
frequently minded to put her to death, but had not the heart to do so,
being overpowered, I believe, by the ardour of his love. Others,
however, say that his mind and resolution were destroyed by the
enchantments which his wife employed against him.
Meanwhile, Photius arrived in a state of fury at Ephesus, having taken
with him in chains Calligonus, a eunuch and pander of Antonina, whom,
by frequently flogging him during the journey, he forced to tell all
his mistress's secrets. Theodosius, however, was warned in time, and
took sanctuary in the temple of St. John the Apostle, which is revered
in that town as a most sacred spot; but Andrew, the bishop of Ephesus,
was bribed into delivering him up into the hands of Photius.
Meanwhile, Theodora was very anxious about Antonina, when she heard
what had befallen her. She summoned both Belisarius and his wife to
Byzantium: on hearing this, Photius sent Theodosius away to Cilicia,
where his own spearmen were in winter quarters, giving orders to his
escort to take the man thither as secretly as possible, and, when they
arrived at Cilicia, to guard him with exceeding strictness, and not to
let anyone know in what part of the world he was. He himself, with
Calligonus and Theodosius's treasures, which were very considerable,
repaired to Byzantium.
At that juncture, the Empress clearly proved to all that she knew how
to recompense the murderous services which Antonina had rendered her,
by even greater crimes committed to further her plans. Indeed,
Antonina had only betrayed one man to her by her wiles, her enemy John
of Cappadocia, but the Empress caused the death of a large number of
innocent persons, whom she sacrificed to the vengeance of Antonina.
The intimates of Belisarius and Photius were some of them flogged,
although the only charge against them was their friendship for these
two persons; and no one, to the present day, knows what afterwards
became of them; while she sent others into exile, who were accused of
the same crime--friendship for Photius and Belisarius. One of those
who accompanied Photius to Ephesus, Theodosius by name, although he
had attained the rank of senator, was deprived of all his property,
and imprisoned by Theodora in an underground dungeon, where she kept
him fastened to a kind of manger by a rope round his neck, which was
so short that it was always quite tense and never slack. The wretched
man was always forced to stand upright at this manger, and there to
eat and sleep, and do all his other needs; there was no difference
between him and an ass, save that he did not bray. No less than four
months were passed by him in this condition, until he was seized with
melancholy and became violently mad, upon which he was released from
his prison and soon afterwards died.
As for Belisarius, she forced him against his will to become
reconciled to his wife Antonina. Photius, by her orders, was tortured
like a slave, and was beaten with rods upon the back and shoulders,
and ordered to disclose where Theodosius and the pander eunuch were.
But he, although cruelly tortured, kept the oath which he had sworn
inviolate; and although he was naturally weak and delicate, and had
always been forced to take care of his health, and had never had any
experience of ill-treatment or discomfort of any kind, yet he never
revealed any of Belisarius's secrets.
But afterwards all that had hitherto been kept secret came to light.
Theodora discovered the whereabouts of Calligonus, and restored him to
Antonina. She also found where Theodosius was, and had him conveyed to
Byzantium, and, on his arrival, concealed him straightway in the
palace. On the morrow she sent for Antonina, and said to her, "Dearest
lady, a pearl fell into my hands yesterday, so beautiful that I think
no one has ever seen its like. If you would like to see it, I will not
grudge you the sight of it, but will gladly show it to you."
Antonina, who did not understand what was going on, begged eagerly to
be shown the pearl, whereupon Theodora led Theodosius by the hand out
of the chamber of one of her eunuchs and displayed him to her.
Antonina was at first speechless through excess of joy, and when she
had recovered herself, warmly protested her gratitude to Theodora,
whom she called her saviour, her benefactress, and truly her mistress.
Theodora kept Theodosius in her palace, treated him with every luxury,
and even boasted that, before long, she would appoint him
generalissimo of the Roman armies. But divine justice, which carried
him off through dysentery, prevented this.
Theodora had at her disposal secret and absolutely secluded dungeons,
so solitary and so dark that it was impossible to distinguish between
night and day. In one of these she kept Photius imprisoned for a long
time. He managed, however, to escape, not only once, but twice. The
first time he took sanctuary in the Church of the Mother of God, which
is one of the most sacred and famous churches in Byzantium, wherein he
sat as a suppliant at the holy table; but she ordered him to be
removed by main force and again imprisoned. The second time he fled to
the Church of St. Sophia, and suddenly took refuge in the holy font,
which is held in reverence by Christians above all other places; but
the woman was able to drag him even from thence, for to her no place
ever was sacred or unassailable; and she thought nothing of violating
the holiest of sanctuaries. The Christian priests and people were
struck with horror at her impiety, but nevertheless yielded and
submitted to her in everything.
Photius had lived in this condition for nearly three years, when the
prophet Zacharias appeared to him in a dream, commanded him to escape,
and promised his assistance. Relying upon this vision, he rose,
escaped from his prison, and made his way to Jerusalem in disguise;
though tens of thousands must have seen the youth, yet none recognised
him. There he shaved off all his hair, assumed the monastic habit, and
in this manner escaped the tortures which Theodora would have
inflicted upon him.
Belisarius took no account of the oaths which he had sworn, and made
no effort to avenge Photius's sufferings, in spite of the solemn vows
which he had made to do so. Hereafter, probably by God's will, all his
warlike enterprises failed. Some time afterwards he was dispatched
against the Medes and Chosroes, who had for the third time invaded the
Roman Empire, and fell under suspicion of treachery, although he was
considered to have performed a notable achievement in driving the
enemy away from the frontier; but when Chosroes, after crossing the
Euphrates, took the populous city of Callinikus without a blow, and
made slaves of tens of thousands of Romans, Belisarius remained quiet,
and never so much as offered to attack the enemy, whereby he incurred
the reproach of either treachery or cowardice.