_Theodora pia_ was one among the many r?les
played by that all-accomplished actress; but this seems to have been
after her death. Like Lucrezia Borgia, perhaps, she was better than her
reputation. With such surroundings liturgical books could not have
existed without sharing in the universal luxury of enrichment. And, in
point of fact, we still have records of such books. While Justinian
reigned in Byzantium it happened that Hormisdas, a native of Frosinone,
was Pope of Rome. He was a zealous eradicator of heresy (especially of
the Eutychian and Manich?an), and in recognition of his services in this
direction the Greek Emperor, with his thanks, sent him a great
Gospel-book richly decorated, no doubt, with those splendid Eusebian
canons and portraits of the Evangelists, the like of which we see in the
Byzantine examples still preserved at Paris, in London, and elsewhere.
Plates of beaten gold, studded with gems, formed the covers of the
Gospel-book of Hormisdas.
Nor was this sumptuous volume the only, or even a rare, example of its
kind. We read that the art of book decoration had become a fashionable
craze. No expense was spared in the search for costly materials. Colours
were imported from India, Persia, and Spain, including vermilion and
ultramarine, while the renowned Byzantine gold ink was manufactured from
imported Indian gold.
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