Meanwhile, Theodora was very anxious about Antonina, when she heard what had befallen her.  She summoned both Belisarius and his wife to Byzantium:  on hearing this, Photius sent Theodosius away to Cilicia, where his own spearmen were in winter quarters, giving orders to his escort to take the man thither as secretly as possible, and, when they arrived at Cilicia, to guard him with exceeding strictness, and not to let anyone know in what part of the world he was.  He himself, with Calligonus and Theodosius’s treasures, which were very considerable, repaired to Byzantium.

At that juncture, the Empress clearly proved to all that she knew how to recompense the murderous services which Antonina had rendered her, by even greater crimes committed to further her plans.  Indeed, Antonina had only betrayed one man to her by her wiles, her enemy John of Cappadocia, but the Empress caused the death of a large number of innocent persons, whom she sacrificed to the vengeance of Antonina.  The intimates of Belisarius and Photius were some of them flogged, although the only charge against them was their friendship for these two persons; and no one, to the present day, knows what afterwards became of them; while she sent others into exile, who were accused of the same crime—­friendship for Photius and Belisarius.  One of those who accompanied Photius to Ephesus, Theodosius by name, although he had attained the rank of senator, was deprived of all his property, and imprisoned by Theodora in an underground dungeon, where she kept him fastened to a kind of manger by a rope round his neck, which was so short that it was always quite tense and never slack.  The wretched man was always forced to stand upright at this manger, and there to eat and sleep, and do all his other needs; there was no difference between him and an ass, save that he did not bray.  No less than four months were passed by him in this condition, until he was seized with melancholy and became violently mad, upon which he was released from his prison and soon afterwards died.

As for Belisarius, she forced him against his will to become reconciled to his wife Antonina.  Photius, by her orders, was tortured like a slave, and was beaten with rods upon the back and shoulders, and ordered to disclose where Theodosius and the pander eunuch were.  But he, although cruelly tortured, kept the oath which he had sworn inviolate; and although he was naturally weak and delicate, and had always been forced to take care of his health, and had never had any experience of ill-treatment or discomfort of any kind, yet he never revealed any of Belisarius’s secrets.

But afterwards all that had hitherto been kept secret came to light.  Theodora discovered the whereabouts of Calligonus, and restored him to Antonina.  She also found where Theodosius was, and had him conveyed to Byzantium, and, on his arrival, concealed him straightway in the palace.  On the morrow she sent for Antonina, and said to her, “Dearest lady, a pearl fell into my hands yesterday, so beautiful that I think no one has ever seen its like.  If you would like to see it, I will not grudge you the sight of it, but will gladly show it to you.”