And she also conceived an anger against a certain Vasianus, a youthful member of the Green Faction[3] and not without distinction, for having covered her with abuse.[4] For this reason Vasianus (for he had not failed to hear of this anger) fled to the Church of the Archangel.[5] And she immediately set upon him the official in charge of the people,[6] commanding him to make no point of his abuse of her, but laying against him the charge of pederasty[7]. And the official removed the man from the sanctuary and inflicted a certain intolerable punishment upon him.[8] And the populace, upon seeing a free-born man involved in such dire misfortunes, a man who had long been living in luxury, were all straightway filled with anguish at the calamity and in lamentation raised their cries to the heavens, seeking to intercede for the youth. She, however, only punished him even more, and cutting off his private parts destroyed him[9] without a trial and confiscated his property to the Treasury. Thus whenever this hussy became excited, no sanctuary proved secure nor did any legal prohibition hold, nor could the supplication of a whole city, as it was clearly shewn, avail to rescue the offender, nor could anything else whatever stand in her way. 

And being angry with a certain Diogenes, as being a Green, a man who was witty and liked by all, even by the Emperor himself, she nevertheless was determined to bring against him the slanderous charge of male intercourse. Consequently she persuaded two of his own domestics to act as both accusers and witnesses and set them upon their owner. And when he was first examined, not secretly and with the great privacy which is usually observed, but in a public trial, with many judges appointed who were men of note, all on account of the reputation of Diogenes, since it did not seem to the judges, as they sought to get at the exact truth, that the statements of the domestics were of sufficient weight to justify a decision, particularly as they were young boys, she confined Theodore, one of the connections of Diogenes, in the usual cells. There she attacked the man with much cajolery and also with abuse. But since she met with no success, she caused the attendants to wind a leathern strap on the man’s head, about his ears, and then ordered them to twist and so to tighten the strap. And Theodore believed that his eyes had jumped out of his head, leaving their proper seats, yet he was unwilling to fabricate any untruth. So finally the judges acquitted Diogenes on the ground that the charge was unsupported by evidence, and the whole city in consequence celebrated a public holiday.

Such was the outcome of this affair.

[18] Καὶ Βασιανὸν δέ τινα Πράσινον, οὐκ ἀφανῆ νέον ὄντα, αὐτῇ διαλοιδορησάμενον δι᾿ ὀργῆς ἔσχε. διὸ δὴ ὁ Βασιανὸς (οὐ γὰρ ἀνήκοος ταύτης δὴ τῆς ὀργῆς ἐγεγόνει) ἐς τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου τὸν νεὼν φεύγει. [19] ἡ δέ οἱ ἐπέστησεν αὐτίκα τὴν τῷ δήμῳ ἐφεστῶσαν ἀρχήν, οὐδὲν μὲν τῆς λοιδορίας ἐπικαλεῖν ἐπαγγείλασα, ὅτι δὲ παιδεραστοίη ἐπενεγκοῦσα. [20] καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀρχὴ ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀναστήσασα ᾐκίζετο ἀνυποίστῳ τινὶ κολάσει, ὁ δὲ δῆμος ἅπας ἐπεὶ ἐν τοιαύταις συμφοραῖς εἶδε σῶμα ἐλευθέριόν τε καὶ ἀνειμένῃ ἄνωθεν διαίτῃ ἐντραφέν, ἀπήλγησάν τε τὸ πάθος εὐθὺς καὶ ξὺν οἰμωγῇ ἀνέκραγον οὐράνιον ὅσον ἐξαιτούμενοι τὸν νεανίαν. [21] ἡ δὲ αὐτὸν ἔτι μᾶλλον κολάσασα καὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον ἀποτεμομένη διέφθειρεν ἀνεξελέγκτως, καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐς τὸ δημόσιον ἀνεγράψατο. [22] οὕτως ἡνίκα ὀργῴη τὸ γύναιον τοῦτο, οὔτε ἱερὸν ὀχυρὸν ἐγεγόνει οὔτε νόμου του ἀπαγόρευσις οὔτε πόλεως ἀντιβόλησις ἐξελέσθαι τὸν παραπεπτωκότα ἱκανὴ ἐφαίνετο οὖσα, οὔτε ἄλλο αὐτῇ ἀπήντα τῶν πάντων οὐδέν.

[23] Καὶ Διογένην δέ τινα οἷα Πράσινον ὄντα δι᾿ ὀργῆς ἔχουσα, ἄνδρα ἀστεῖον καὶ ποθεινὸν ἅπασί τε καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ, οὐδέν τι ἧσσον γάμων ἀνδρείων συκοφαντεῖν ἐν σπουδῇ εἶχε. [24] δύο γοῦν ἀναπείσασα τῶν αὐτοῦ οἰκετῶν κατηγόρους τε καὶ μάρτυρας τῷ κεκτημένῳ ἐπέστησε. [25] τοῦ δὲ οὐ κρύβδην ἐξεταζομένου καὶ λαθραιότατα, ᾗπερ¹ εἰώθει, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν δημοσίῳ, δικαστῶν ᾑρημένων πολλῶν τε καὶ οὐκ ἀδόξων, διὰ τὴν Διογένους δόξαν, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἐδόκουν ἀκριβολογουμένοις τοῖς δικασταῖς οἱ τῶν οἰκετῶν λόγοι ἀξιόχρεῳ ἐς τὴν κρίσιν εἶναι, ἄλλως τε καὶ παιδαρίων ὄντων, Θεόδωρον τῶν Διογένει ἀναγκαίων τινὰ ἐν τοῖς εἰωθόσιν οἰκιδίοις καθεῖρξεν. [26] ἐνταῦθα πολλαῖς μὲν θωπείαις πολλοῖς δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον αἰκισμοῖς περιῆλθεν. ἐπεί τέ οἱ οὐδὲν προὐχώρει, νευρὰν βοείαν ἐς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀμφὶ τὰ ὦτα περιελίξαντας² τὴν νευρὰν στρέφειν τε καὶ σφίγγειν ἐκέλευε. [27] καὶ τοὺς μέν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὺς Θεόδωρος³ ἐκπεπηδηκέναι τὴν οἰκείαν λιπόντας χώραν ὑπώπτευεν, οὐδὲν μέντοι τῶν οὐ γεγονότων ἀναπλάσσειν⁴ ἔγνω. [28] διὸ δὴ οἱ μὲν δικασταὶ ἅτε ἀμαρτυρήτου δίκης Διογένους⁵ ἀπέγνωσαν, ἡ δὲ πόλις ἑορτὴν ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ πανδημεὶ ἦγεν.

[XVII 1] Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν τῇδε ἐχώρησεν.