74. Socrates (1. vii. c. 21) mentions her name (Athenais,
the daughter of Leontius, an Athenian sophist), her baptism,
marriage, and poetical genius. The most ancient account of
her history is in John Malala (part ii. p. 20, 21, edit.
Venet. 1733 [p. 354, 355, ed. Bonn]) and in the Paschal
Chronicle (p. 311, 312 [ed. Paris; tom. i. p. 576, 577, ed.
Bonn]). Those authors had probably seen original pictures of
the empress Eudocia. The modern Greeks, Zonaras, Cedrenus,
etc., have displayed the love, rather than the talent, of
fiction. From Nicephorus, indeed, I have ventured to assume
her age. The writer of a romance would not have 'imagined'
that Athenais was near twenty-eight years old when she
inflamed the heart of a young emperor.