[3] There was no hereditary right to the throne in the Roman Empire, though a father generally contrived to secure it for his son. “Born in the purple” is, by the way, an inaccurate description of the imperial children, though not uncommon. They were “born in the Porphyra,” or porphyry-lined palace; but, as the Greek word _porphura_ properly means “purple,” it is mistranslated at times. There are those who maintain that the imperial colour was rather red than what we know as purple. [4] The date of the marriage is much disputed. Chroniclers assign it to various years, and, when the son of Ariadne and Zeno mounts the throne, he is variously described as an infant, a boy of seven, and a youth of seventeen. Professor Bury puts the marriage in 458 or 459. I prefer the estimate of Tillemont, that it took place in 468, the year of the disgrace of Basiliscus. [5] It is a popular fallacy, as we shall frequently see, that the Romans had abandoned these bloody spectacles in the days of Honorius. [6] See, especially, the work of Débidour, “L’Impératrice Théodora,” and a summary and approval of Débidour’s arguments in an article by Mr Mallett in _The English Historical Review_, January 1887. Mr W. G. Holmes’s learned work, “The Age of Justinian and Theodora” (2 vols., 1907), is much too meagre in its references to Theodora. [7] See the Latin translation (“Commentarii de Beatis Orientalibus”) by Douwen and Land of this Syriac work (Amsterdam, 1889). John also speaks of her as “a most astute woman,” and, although his work teems with the immense services done to his Church by Theodora, he never mentions her with more than stiff and formal respect. [8] It is necessary to explain to the unfamiliar the “factions” of the Hippodrome. In the chariot contests the rival drivers were distinguished by their colours: white, red, blue and green. The white and red were of little account, but the blue and green divided the populace of Constantinople into bitterly hostile parties or “factions.” These parties were almost in the nature of sporting clubs: they were publicly recognized, and had their own premises, chariots, beasts, officers, etc. We shall find the fate of dynasties almost turning at times on the struggle of the “blues” and “greens.” [9] This conversation (preserved in Theophanes) is sometimes described as a free discharge of invectives against Justinian, and surprise is expressed that the character of his wife is not included. The dialogue is not at all a general attack on Justinian. It is, for the most part, a sober and earnest demand of justice, and contains only one insulting line--possibly an isolated cry of some more impetuous member of the party.