Note 1232 — Chapter IV · PRE-IMPERIAL CAREER OF THEODORA: THE CONSORT OF JUSTINIAN
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One example of her unusual turpitude may be reproduced. After enlivening a party of ten or more young men for a whole evening, she “παρὰ τοὺς ἐκείνων οἰκέτας ἰοῦσα τριάκοντα ὄντας ἂν οὕτω τύχοι, ξυνεδυαζετο μὲν τούτων ἑκάστῳ”; Procopius, Anecdot., 9. Unconsciously she was emulating the activities of the Empress Messalina five centuries previously:
Claudius audi Quae tulerit: dormire virum cum senserat uxor ... Intravit calidum veteri centone lupanar ... Excepit blanda intrantes, atque aera poposcit: Mox lenone suas jam dimittente puellas, Tristis abit; etc. Juvenal, Sat. vi, 115, et seq.
Pliny discusses her proclivities in the inquiring mood of a physiologist; Hist. Nat., x, 83.