i.
sat.

2, v.101.At a memorable supper, thirty slaves waited round the table ten young men feasted with Theodora.

Her charity was universal.

Et lassata viris, necdum satiata, recessit.] [Footnote 26: She wished for a fourth altar, on which she might pour libations to the god of love.] [Footnote 2611: Gibbon should have remembered the axiom which he quotes in another piece, scelera ostendi oportet dum puniantur abscondi flagitia .-- M.] In the most abject state of her fortune, and reputation, some vision, either of sleep or of fancy, had whispered to Theodora the pleasing assurance that she was destined to become the spouse of a potent monarch.

Conscious of her approaching greatness, she returned from Paphlagonia to Constantinople; assumed, like a skilful actress, a more decent character; relieved her poverty by the laudable industry of spinning wool; and affected a life of chastity and solitude in a small house, which she afterwards changed into a magnificent temple.