ἀλλ᾽ ὀκνῶ, μή τισιν ἐξονειδίζειν δόξω τὰς συμφορὰς καὶ οὐκ ἔπαινον τῶν ταύτης ἀγαθῶν, κατάλογον δὲ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων συγγράφειν ἀτυχημάτων. τοσούτων δὲ ἔργων μηδὲν παρασχέσθαι μηδὲ εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἄγειν [116] τεκμήριον κενόν πως εἶναι δοκεῖ καὶ ἐς ἀπιστίαν ἄγει(546) τὸν ἔπαινον. οὐκοῦν ἐκεῖνα παραιτησάμενος, ὁπόσα γ᾽ ἐμοί τε εἰπεῖν ἀνεπίφθονον ταύτῃ τε ἀκούειν καλὰ λέγοιμ᾽ ἂν ἤδη. (And indeed he forgot nothing, and no sooner had he come home and vanquished, as was just, the youths who caroused in the palace, than he related all to her without pause, all that he had achieved and endured, and all else that, obeying the oracles, he purposed still to accomplish.(547) And from her he kept nothing secret, but chose that she should be the partner of his counsels and should help him to plan and contrive what he must do. And do you think this a trifling tribute to Penelope, or is there not now found to be yet another woman whose virtue surpasses hers, and who, as the consort of a brave, magnanimous and prudent Emperor, has won as great affection from her husband, since she has mingled with the tenderness that is inspired by love that other which good and noble souls derive from their own virtue, whence it flows like a sacred fount? For there are two jars,(548) so to speak, of these two kinds of human affection, and Eusebia drew in equal measure from both, and so has come to be the partner of her husband’s counsels, and though the Emperor is by nature merciful, good and wise, she encourages him to follow yet more becomingly his natural bent, and ever turns justice to mercy. So that no one could ever cite a case in which this Empress, whether with justice, as might happen, or unjustly, has ever been the cause of punishment or chastisement either great or small. Now we are told that at Athens, in the days when they employed their ancestral customs and lived in obedience to their own laws, as the inhabitants of a great and humane city, whenever the votes of the jurymen were cast evenly for defendant and plaintiff, the vote of Athene(549) was awarded to him who would have incurred the penalty, and thus both were acquitted of guilt, he who had brought the accusation, of the reputation of sycophant, and the defendant, naturally, of the guilt of the crime. Now this humane and gracious custom is kept up in the suits which the Emperor judges, but Eusebia’s mercy goes further. For whenever the defendant comes near to obtaining an equal number of votes, she persuades the Emperor, adding her request and entreaty on his behalf, to acquit the man entirely of the charge. And of free will with willing heart he grants the boon, and does not give it as Homer says Zeus, constrained by his wife, agreed as to what he should concede to her “of free will but with soul unwilling.”(550) And perhaps it is not strange that he should concede this pardon reluctantly and under protest in the case of the violent and depraved. But not even when men