The Heroine and the Historian 305
ting off her nose and ears, and sent her back to her father.38 A motive for this
treatment may be deduced from other sources: in 442 Huneric’s father Geiseric
made a treaty with the western emperor Valentinian III and sent Huneric
as hostage to the Roman court. Shortly afterward Huneric was betrothed to
Eudocia, the emperor’s daughter.39 This was an alliance with far-reaching con-
sequences: decades later in 523, when he as an old man, Eudocia’s son Hilderic
inherited the Vandal throne.
A striking case from an earlier period but known to Procopius is that
of the empress Justina (d. ca. 391). In her childhood, Justina was married to
the usurper Magnentius (r. 350–3), and after his death she became the sec-
ond wife of the emperor Valentinian (d. 375). She was the mother of the child
emperor Valentinian II—who ruled from 375, when he came to power at age
four, to 392—and of three daughters: Justa, Grata, and Galla. The Arian Justina
is famous for her conflict with the Catholic bishop Ambrose of Milan in the
380s, when her son’s court was settled in that city.40 But a somewhat less well-
known episode sheds light on Justina’s expertise as a deal-broker. In 387, when
the usurper Maximus invaded Italy, Valentinian fled to the protection of the
eastern emperor Theodosius, in Thessalonica.41 According to the early 6th-
century Greek historian Zosimus, Justina now saw her opportunity. “Knowing
Theodosius’ amorous proclivities, she set before him her extremely good-
looking daughter Galla, grasped him by the knees, and besought him not to
let go unavenged the death of Gratian... (while saying this she pointed to the
maiden, who was tearfully bewailing her fate)”.42 Once Theodosius had taken
the bait and asked to marry Galla, Justina set her terms: “She insisted that she
would give her to him only on condition that he make war on Maximus, avenge
Gratian’s death, and restore Valentinian to his father’s empire.”43
38 Jordanes, Getica 36; 184.
39 The episode is discussed by Merrills/Miles, Vandals, p. 113.
40 The classic treatment of this conflict, written of course from Ambrose’s point of view, is
Persecution of Justina 11.
41 Oost, “Count Gildo and Theodosius”, pp. 27–30.
42 Zosimus, New History 4.44: “ἐπισταμένη τὸ Θεοδοςίον περὶ τὰς ἐρωτικάς ἐπιθυμίας ἐπιρρεπές,
ἐφιςτᾷ τε τὴ θυγατέρα Γἀλλαν ἐξαιςίῳ διαπρέποθσαν κάλλει, καὶ τῶν γονάτωω ἐπιλαβομένη
τοῦ βασιλέως ἱκέτεθε μήτε τὸω Γρατιανοῦ τοῦ δεδωκότος οἱ τὴω βασιλείαν θάνατον περιδεῖν
ἀτιμώρητον... καὶ ταῦτα λέγουσα τὴν κόρην ὀδυρομἐνην ἐδεικνθ καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἀποκλαίουσαν
τύχην.”
43 Zosimus, New History 4.44: “οὐκ ἄλλως δὲ ἔφασκε δὠσειν, εἰ μὴ τὸν κατὰ Μαξίμου ἀράμενος
τῇ τε Γρατιανοῦ τιμωρήσειεν ἀναιρέσει καὶ Οὐαλεντινιανῷ πάλιν ἀποδοίη τὴν τοῦ πατροὸς
βασιλείαν.”