# XVII: How She Saved Five Hundred Harlots from a Life of Sin, Made Away with Her Own Natural Son, and Other Curious Incidents of Her Passion for Match Making explained — The Secret History

> Chapter companion for The Secret History by Procopius.

## What happens

Theodora's absolute control over state and personal affairs is detailed: she manipulates marriages, punishes those who oppose her, forces widows into unwanted unions, confines harlots to a monastery, and even disposes of her own son to hide her past. Her cruelty extends to crucifying a governor for punishing Blue faction members, and she relentlessly pursues John the Cappadocian with false witnesses.

## Themes in this chapter

### Abuse of Power

Theodora uses her position to control marriages, punish dissent, and even murder her own son, all without accountability.

### Hypocrisy and Deception

Theodora forces harlots into a monastery to 'reform' them while herself engaging in murder and adultery, and she uses false witnesses against John the Cappadocian.

### Injustice and Lawlessness

Governor Callinicus is crucified for punishing murderers, and husbands are whipped for complaining about adulterous wives, showing the complete perversion of justice.

## Character check-ins

### Theodora

Exercises tyrannical control over marriages, punishes opponents, crucifies Governor Callinicus, confines harlots, and murders her own son John to conceal her past.

### Saturninus

Forced by Theodora to marry Chrysomallo's daughter, then whipped for complaining that his bride was not a virgin.

### John the Cappadocian

Theodora continues to persecute him even after his exile, using false witnesses to try to have him executed for murder.

### Callinicus

Governor of second Cilicia who sentenced two Blues to death; Theodora crucified him for this.

### Justinian

Affects to lament Callinicus's death but does nothing except seize the dead man's estate.

### Chrysomallo

Former dancer and hetaera, now living in the palace; her daughter is forced upon Saturninus by Theodora.

## Key lines

> She arranged all marriages as if that were her divine right, and voluntary betrothals before a ceremony were unknown.

Theodora treated the arrangement of marriages as her personal prerogative, and no one could marry without her approval.

_Illustrates Theodora's absolute control over personal relationships._

> Theodora heard of this, and to show her preference for the Blues, crucified Callinicus, without troubling to remove him from his office, on the spot where the murderers had been buried.

To demonstrate her favoritism toward the Blue faction, Theodora had Governor Callinicus crucified on the very spot where the murderers he had sentenced were buried.

_Highlights Theodora's arbitrary and brutal use of power._

> She picked up more than five hundred harlots in the Forum, who earned a miserable living by selling themselves there for three obols, and sent them to the opposite mainland, where they were locked up in the monastery called Repentance to force them to reform their way of life.

Theodora rounded up over five hundred prostitutes from the Forum and confined them in a monastery on the opposite shore, compelling them to change their ways.

_Shows Theodora's hypocritical moral crusade._

> As soon as he entered, she handed him over to one of her servants who was ordinarily entrusted with such commissions. And in what manner the poor lad was removed from the world, I cannot say, for no one has ever seen him since, not even after the Queen died.

The moment her son John entered her presence, Theodora gave him to a servant who handled such tasks, and the boy was never seen again.

_Reveals Theodora's willingness to murder her own child to protect her reputation._

## Links

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