Εὐτρόπιος

The chamberlain of the emperor Arcadius.¹ There was nothing dreadful that he failed to do. He sold government offices publicly, falsely accused people with power, got rid of the leading men through exile, and brought all manner of outrageous force against the members of the Senate. Nor did he even hold himself back from alliance with foreigners, as if he was hoping to take over the position of the emperor. And once, wanting to arrest those who had taken refuge in the churches, he gave a command ordering that these people be dragged out from the altars. And, while the law had been written, yet justice followed straightway after his savagery. For, not much later Eutropius, after quarreling with the emperor, himself became a refugee and was lying under the altar, while John Chrysostom was bishop.² After being pulled away from there, within a night he was beheaded. Thus, then, Eutropius paid the penalty for his sin and was erased from the very list of the consuls, for Theodorus, his fellow consul, has been recorded as the only one.
[It is said that] under this Eutropius eunuchs³ as a class increased and grew so great in number because of his importance and power that then even some of those who already had beards wanted to become eunuchs and were deprived of their life⁴ along with their testicles.