On her return to Byzantium, Justinian became excessively enamoured of her.  At first he had intercourse with her merely as her lover, although he raised her to the position of a patrician.  By this means Theodora was straightway enabled to gain very great influence and to amass considerable sums of money.  She charmed Justinian beyond all the world, and, like most infatuated lovers, he delighted to show her all the favour and give her all the money that he could.  This lavishness added fuel to the flame of passion.  In concert with her he plundered the people more than ever, not only in the capital, but throughout the Roman Empire; for, as both of them had for a long time been members of the Blue faction, they had placed unlimited power in its hands, although the evil was subsequently somewhat checked, in the manner which I will now relate.

Justinian had for some time suffered from a dangerous illness; in fact, it was even reported that he was dead.  The Blue faction were committing the crimes of which I have spoken, and slew Hypatius, a person of consequence, in the Church of St. Sophia, in broad daylight.  When the murderer had accomplished his work, clamour was raised which reached the Emperor’s ears, and all his courtiers seized upon the opportunity of pointing out the outrageous character of the offence which, owing to Justinian’s absence from public affairs, the murderer had been enabled to perpetrate, and enumerated all the crimes that had been committed from the outset.  Hereupon the Emperor gave orders to the prefect of the city to punish these crimes.  This man was named Theodotus, nick-named Colocynthius.[11] He instituted an inquiry into the whole matter, and had the courage to seize and put to death, according to the law, many of the malefactors, several of whom, however, hid themselves and so escaped, being destined to perish afterwards together with the Roman Empire.  Justinian, who miraculously recovered, straightway began to plan the destruction of Theodotus, on the pretext that he was a magician and used philtres.  However, as he found no proofs on which the man could be condemned, he flogged and tortured some of his intimates until he forced them to make most unfounded accusations against him.  When no one dared to oppose Justinian, but silently bewailed the plot against Theodotus, Proclus, the Quaestor, alone declared that the man was innocent and did not deserve to die.  Theodotus was therefore sentenced by the Emperor to banishment to Jerusalem.  But, learning that certain men had been sent thither to assassinate him, he took sanctuary in the temple, where he spent the rest of his life in concealment until he died.  Such was the end of Theodotus.

From this time forth, however, the Blue party behaved with the greatest moderation; they did not venture to perpetrate such crimes, although they had it in their power to abuse their authority more outrageously and with greater impunity than before.  Here is a proof of this; when a few of them afterwards showed the same audacity in evil-doing, they were not punished in any way; for those who had the power to punish always gave malefactors an opportunity to escape, and by this indulgence encouraged them to trample upon the laws.