The vague commerce of Theodora, and the most detestable precautions, preserved her from the danger which she feared; yet once, and once only, she became a mother.

The infant was saved and educated in Arabia, by his father, who imparted to him on his death-bed, that he was the son of an empress.

Filled with ambitious hopes, the unsuspecting youth immediately hastened to the palace of Constantinople, and was admitted to the presence of his mother.

As he was never more seen, even after the decease of Theodora, she deserves the foul imputation of extinguishing with his life a secret so offensive to her Imperial virtue.

[2611] [Footnote 20: For the life and manners of the empress Theodora see the Anecdotes; more especially c.