was copied by the king of Italy; and the three favorite concubines of Hugo were decorated with the classic names of Venus, Juno, and Semele. ^63 The daughter of Venus was granted to the solicitations of the Byzantine court: her name of Bertha was changed to that of Eudoxia; and she was wedded, or rather betrothed, to young Romanus, the future heir of the empire of the East. The consummation of this foreign alliance was suspended by the tender age of the two parties; and, at the end of five years, the union was dissolved by the death of the virgin spouse. The second wife of the emperor Romanus was a maiden of plebeian, but of Roman, birth; and their two daughters, Theophano and Anne, were given in marriage to the princes of the earth. The eldest was bestowed, as the pledge of peace, on the eldest son of the great Otho, who had solicited this alliance with arms and embassies. It might legally be questioned how far a Saxon was entitled to the privilege of the French nation; but every scruple was silenced by the fame and piety of a hero who had restored the empire of the West. After the death of her father-in-law and husband, Theophano governed Rome, Italy, and Germany, during the minority of her son, the third Otho; and the Latins have praised the virtues of an empress, who sacrificed to a superior duty the remembrance of her country. ^64 In the nuptials of her sister Anne, every prejudice was lost, and every consideration of dignity was superseded, by the stronger argument of necessity and fear. A Pagan of the North, Wolodomir, great prince of Russia, aspired to a daughter of the Roman purple; and his claim was enforced by the threats of war, the promise of conversion, and the offer of a powerful succor against a domestic rebel. A victim of her religion and country, the Grecian princess was torn from the palace of her fathers, and condemned to a savage reign, and a hopeless exile on the banks of the Borysthenes, or in the neighborhood of the Polar circle. ^65 Yet the marriage of Anne was fortunate and fruitful: the daughter of her grandson Joroslaus was recommended by her Imperial descent; and the king of France, Henry I., sought a wife on the last borders of Europe and Christendom. ^66
[Footnote 58: The xiiith chapter, de Administratione Imperii, may be explained and rectified by the Familiae Byzantinae of Ducange.]
[Footnote 59: Sequiturque nefas Aegyptia conjux, (Virgil, Aeneid, viii. 688.) Yet this Egyptian wife was the daughter of a long line of kings. Quid te mutavit (says Antony in a private letter to Augustus) an quod reginam ineo? Uxor mea est, (Sueton. in August. c. 69.) Yet I much question (for I cannot stay to inquire) whether the triumvir ever dared to celebrate his marriage either with Roman or Egyptian rites.]
[Footnote 60: Berenicem invitus invitam dimisit, (Suetonius in Tito, c. 7.) Have I observed elsewhere, that this Jewish beauty was at this time above fifty years of age? The judicious Racine has most discreetly suppressed both her age and her country.]
[Footnote 61: Constantine was made to praise the the Franks, with whom he claimed a private and public alliance. The French writers (Isaac Casaubon in Dedicat. Polybii) are highly delighted with these compliments.]
[Footnote 62: Constantine Porphyrogenitus (de Administrat. Imp. c. 36) exhibits a pedigree and life of the illustrious King Hugo. A more correct idea may be formed from the Criticism of Pagi, the Annals of Muratori, and the Abridgment of St. Marc, A.D. 925 - 946.]
[Footnote 63: After the mention of the three goddesses, Luitprand very naturally adds, et quoniam non rex solus iis abutebatur, earum nati ex incertis patribus originera ducunt, (Hist. l. iv. c. 6: ) for the marriage of the younger Bertha, see Hist. l. v. c. 5; for the incontinence of the elder, dulcis exercipio Hymenaei, l. ii. c. 15; for the virtues and vices of Hugo, l. iii. c. 5. Yet it must not be forgot, that the bishop of Cremona was a lover of scandal.]
[Footnote 64: Licet illa Imperatrix Graeca sibi et aliis fuisset satis utilis, et optima, &c.,